Girls, I am telling you, the accidental discoveries you can make on YouTube!
I cannot even recall "Mikey," from 1992, but I vaguely remember "The Paperboy," from 1994. If it was released theatrically, it had maybe a week's run!!!!!!!!!!
But seeing these two almost side by side made me realize how unnecessary it was for Rob Lowe to do his inferior "Bad Seed" remake. These two are far superior to that, the lead actors are great, and what is more, when I researched "The Paperboy," it was said to be a remake of "Mikey." I wouldn't go that far, I would call it almost a sequel, because Brian Bonsall, who plays Mikey, is clearly pre-pubescent, while Marc Marut, who plays Johnny McFarley, is clearly in the throes of puberty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let's start with "Mikey," which is actually the better of the two films. It opens with Mikey, an adopted child, perpetrating a family massacre because he feels he is not loved anymore. This is Mikey's MO; he goes from family to family, at first feels love, but, when he begins to feel that go, turns violent. To be sure, Brian Bonsall, can turn on the cuteness and charm, when needed, but his violence is chilling, coming from such a cute kid. Mention is made of Mikey's real parents abusing him, but no one says how. In the course of the film, Mikey kills nine people, and gets away with it--because the ending uses a similar, "Bad Seed" twist, which brings the film to full circle, in a wonderfully, twisted way. If this film was released theatrically in 1992, it got lost amid all the buzz being given to "Single White Female," and "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle." Too bad, because "Mikey" is an underrated entry in the evil child genre.
Marc Marut, as Johnny McFarley, is older, and almost begs for sympathy. Johnny lost his mother a year ago, and his father grief stricken, leaves him alone a lot, as he travels for work, while neglecting his son. Too bad, because "The Paperboy" begins with Johnny sneaking into the house of an elderly client, Mrs. Thorpe, coming up behind her, and suffocating her with a plastic see-through bag. This brings her daughter, Melissa, and daughter, Cammie, back home to investigate the matters of her death. Johnny is at once almost too needy and accommodating, and, as he begins to unravel emotionally, it becomes apparent, that he planned the murder of Mrs. Thorpe, to bring Melissa and Cammie to the neighborhood, so he can have the family he has always wanted.
Johnny, unlike Mikey, is not adopted, but his father was a wimp, and his mother was an overbearing, Margaret White, type, overtly religious, and righteously moral, who would beat Johnny all the time, and the father would not intervene. There is a photo of the family seen early in the film, and it is chilling; this is not a happy family portrait. Too bad they could not have had some scenes with the abusive mother, and have her played by DeAnn Mears, so good as Alice Curtis, in "The Loneliest Runner." When Melissa learns, from neighborhood spinster- like scold, Mrs. Rosemont (played by Frances Bay, who was Aunt Barbara, in "Blue Velvet,") of the abuse, and the supposition, pretty much accepted, that Johnny murdered his mother in retaliation, I wish they had shown that scene. That bitch deserved what she got, for turning Johnny into what he ultimately becomes.
Alas, the movie peters out. Melissa and Cammie are rescued by her boy friend Brian (an aged William Katt) who survives an attack by Johnny, and there is no twist ending--the police simply apprehend Johnny, and take him away, probably to a youth mental facility.
There is no twist. But the palpable yearning for love displayed in Marc Marut's performance, almost makes one feel sympathetic to him.
So, see Rob Lowe, there was no need for you to redo "The Bad Seed."
There are better examples out there. All one has to do is look!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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