Mikey

This entry into the taboo 'killer kid' horror sub-genre involves 9 year old Mikey. The first scene shows him slaughtering his entire adoptive family (yes, really) in one fell swoop. Whats more, hes videotaped the whole thing for his later entertainment. Mikey is found hiding in a closet by the police officers investigating who could have done this. After fobbing them off with a fake description of the perpetrator he is then placed up for adoption.

The majority of the film is centred around Mikey's new life with his new family. He starts out by looking every bit the model angelic child but then red flags start to appear. Then the number of 'accidents' and casualties starts to grow.

The power of this film is that it was filmed and feels like a TV movie. It adheres to this genre's conventions but subverts it because of it's controversial subject matter. This juxtaposition works amazingly well especially as the film pulls no punches when it comes to the truly sadistic and brutal deeds of it's central character. The performance of Brian Bonsall is pitch perfect as the psychopathic child. It's also great to see Ashley Laurence from Hellraiser fame make an appearance as Mikey's concerned teacher.

This film was actually made for the 'straight to video' market in the US but was then to be released theatrically in the UK. The film was submitted for a certificate to the BBFC and was awarded an 18 cert in November 1992. But then things took an unexpected turn. The abduction of toddler James Bulger by two other children dominated the news in February of the next year and the media was stating how horror films and specifically home videos must be the cause. A number of films that had been released were targetted with Childs Play 3 taking most of the blame. The Daily Mail (who else) noted how Mikey was a future release and involved a child killer. Surely this couldn't be released now, could it, they opined. Head of the BBFC, James Ferman then took the unprecedented step of taking back the 18 certificate that had been granted to Mikey and banning it outright. It's hard to believe that this happened but it did. Mikey was resubmitted for a certificate in 1996 but was rejected. The film is still banned in the UK.

BUT, it's on YouTube.

I remember renting this once in a while back in the early 90's. I had fun with it although it's a predictable slasher flick.

The plot was easy to follow and entertaining as I remember. There were some good death scenes and amusing acting.

The Mikey character was truly good and that's because of the talented child actor who portrayed it.

I remember a death scene involving a pool. Nice sequences and decent gore.

I haven't rented this one in years but I have good memories about it. As far as I remember, it's a decent, entertaining slasher. Recommended for slasher hard core fans or those who enjoy killer child flicks. As someone else mentioned, this movie always reminds me of "The Stepfather".

I went into this movie expecting a cheesy slasher film. I was in the first five minutes of the movie three people died in a really shocking way.

I'm not going to spoil anything from this movie all of the actors did great. The plot is understanding as well To be honest I choose this movie over The Prodigy 2019 I get this movie six stars out of 10 because I think it's a good underrated slasher.

Mikey is a little friggin phsyco who kills his newly adoptive parents. Good flick, but could be better. Brian Bonsall was cute and ferocius in this, and he did a ver good job of portraying the little weirdo. I loved bonsall, he was a cute little kid.

I laughed throughout this movie, so in that sense it was highly entertaining! I'm not sure if it was supposed to be a dark comedy or just so bad it's good. I had it recommended to me after asking for evil child movies. For whatever reason, it's a trope I love!

This one certainly fit the bill, complete with cheesy one-liners. I remember Brian Bonsall in Family Ties so it was fun to see him play the adorable but murderous waif. Parts were slow but the beginning was off to a good start and the ending was so over the top ludicrous that I actually LOLed. I'm almost surprised this doesn't have better cult status. Fun if you want to be entertained by bad horror.