I love this movie so much

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The acting in this movie is really good.

Originally airing on October 24, 1974 on the ABC Network, this film tells the sad tale of Ronald Wilby (Scott Jacoby, The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane), a kid who is a great artist and lives in a fantasy world. So far, he's me at 15, all socially awkward and afraid of girls. Where he is not like me is that his dad left town and never came back, leaving him with an insanely overprotective mother (Kim Hunter, Zira from Planet of the Apes) who has some mystery disease and wants Ronald to go to med school and heal her. That seems like a lot of pressure. Maybe so much pressure that after getting the Heisman and shut down by Laurie Matthews, the object of his affection, he ends up shoving Laurie's younger sister Carol. The little girl just keeps verbally abusing Ronald — trust me, I've had things twelve year old girls say hurt me to this day and gotten over every punch to my face — until he shoves her again, so hard that her head bounces off a concrete block. Boom. She's dead.Yep. In the 70s — and perhaps nowhere moreso than a 70s made for TV movie — life is cheap. So Ronald and his mom do what any normal person and normal mother would do — they bury the body, hide the evidence and even hide Ronald inside a concealed room. They hope everything will just blow over — even when the police come by with questions. Nosy neighbors be damned, her boy will be just fine, provided he stops drawing, does his studies, eats right and remembers his exercises.It should work. Except she dies, leaving Ronald alone in the house with all his cans of food. Before you get to the next commercial, Ronald has totally escaped into a fantasy world of princes, princesses and demons. His house is sold to the Wood family — mom, dad (Dabney Coleman of Cloak and Dagger, 9 to 5, Tootsie and so much more) and three sisters — Babs, Althea and Ellen.Ronald is running out of food and really needs human interaction. Babs becomes the princess of his dreams while her boyfriend, Duane Matthews, becomes his demon. Well, he's already killed one of Duane's sisters and now he's descended so far into pure mania, who can say what will happen next!Read more at http://bit.ly/2ztipvm

Scott Jacoby gives a memorably creepy performance in this popular TV-movie about a young fugitive from the law who lives in the walled-up guest bathroom of his house after his divorced mother dies and a new family moves in. Interesting, if far-fetched premise, adapted by Andrew Peter Marin from a novel by John Holbrook Vance, contains some startling scenes handled well by veteran director Buzz Kulik. Although brief at 72 minutes, the movie utilizes its time well; Kulik was obviously working against the restraints of a low budget and content requirements for television, but he admirably doesn't treat this scenario lightly. Jeered teenager Ronald, who lives in a fantasy world of doomed medieval lovers, isn't simply a misfit--he's seriously touched in the head--and Jacoby doesn't attempt to make him likable. The supporting performances are uneven, ranging from stilted to overly-broad (the nosy neighbor), yet the dark, edgy mood of the piece is conveyed very well.

Ahhh The ABC Friday Movie of the Week! If you couldn't get a date, at least they had something decent playing on the boob tube! Okay! I was only twelve yrs old when this gem came on T.V but boy, I remember that this movie creep-ed me out so much--The noises in the attic and taps on the wall kinda made me wary that I may not be alone in my house after all.Anyway, the plot is simple. Ronald is a shy awkward, sort of geeky high school boy that is taunted by one of the pretty popular girls one afternoon. He lashes out at her in anger by striking her, she accidentally falls hitting a rock killing her instantly. Horrified, Ronald confesses the crime to his widowed mother, who wants desperately to protect her only son by hiding him from the police. She fixes up a false room accessible by only a small door and she is somewhat successful until she finds out she has to leave him because she needs a surgical procedure. All is planned until her return, but what she didn't plan on was dying on the operating table. Ronald is therefore left alone on his own devices wondering where his mother is. He finally reasons out the truth when a new family moves in the house that she is dead.Poor lonely Ronald now is in a mess. He steals the family's food and possessions to survive. He doesn't leave because he does not know where to go. But he then grows somewhat mentally twisted from his loneliness. He starts spying on the family more in a not so nice way-especially the young teen aged daughter. He begins to equate her with the girl who originally bullied him. Will Ronald go...well bad...and something awful will happen? I wish this film would be shown again because I'm sure it will become a cult favorite. If anyone does see this listed, I heartily recommend seeing it.

Gawky misfit teen Ronald (a truly spooky and unnerving performance by Scott Jacoby; the gimpy magician in "The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane") accidentally kills a bratty little girl. He's subsequently hidden in a secret room of an old Victorian house by his sickly, smothering mother (a wonderful portrayal by "Planet of the Apes" film series regular Kim Hunter) in order to avoid being arrested by the authorities. Mom dies and a new family -- father Dabney Coleman, mother Pippa Scott, and their three hottie daughters Cindy Fisher, Cindy Eibacher and Lisa Eibacher -- move into the swanky and enormous abode. Ronald loses his grip on reality and disappears into an elaborate fantasy world created by his own warped overactive imagination. One fateful day he comes out of his clandestine hideaway hole to terrorize the hapless adolescent lasses when the parents leave for the weekend.One of the all-time classic 70's made-for-TV horror psycho thrillers, "Bad Ronald" 's extremely fantastic and far-fetched premise is made reasonably credible and totally compelling by journeyman TV show veteran Buzz Kulik's capable direction (along with his episodic TV show credits, Kulik also helmed the enjoyable Burt Reynolds private eye picture "Shamus" and the underrated Steve McQueen action vehicle "The Hunter"). Fred Karlin's effectively eerie score and a top-rate cast make this feature a cut above average TV movie fare. Popping up in especially nice bits are John Larch as a shrewd homicide detective and John Fiedler as a friendly real estate agent. Yeah, this film is fairly preposterous, but thankfully Jacoby's unforgettably creepy and disturbing character keeps the show gripping and harrowing right down to its thrilling climax. Jacoby's role as a murderously messed-up teenage nerd deserves a place right alongside "The Bad Seed" 's Patty McCormack and the Udvarnovsky brothers from "The Other" in the All-Time Scary Killer Kids Hall of Infamy.