With unforgettable performances and an atmosphere thick with tension, The Bad Seed remains one of the most influential thrillers of its time. 

At the heart of the film is Rhoda Penmark, played with eerie precision by Patty McCormack. On the surface she’s the perfect little girl, but beneath the ribbons and smiles lies something far more sinister. 

When a classmate turns up dead under suspicious circumstances, her mother, Christine (Nancy Kelly), is forced to confront a terrifying possibility: could her daughter be a murderer?

As one of the first major stage-to-screen psychological dramas, it set a precedent for tense, character-driven thrillers, as well as horrors that prefer a slow unravelling of disturbing truths.  

Though its ending was softened due to the Hays Code, The Bad Seed remains a landmark film in the horror and thriller genres, influencing countless stories about eerie, sociopathic children in cinema and literature.