Welcome to Arrow in the Head's The Best Horror Movie You Never Saw, which will be dedicated to highlighting horror films that, for one reason or another, don't get as much love as we think they should. We know plenty of you horror hounds out there will have seen many of the movies we pick, but there will be plenty of you who have not. This column is for all of you!
THE PLOT: Mikey looks and acts like an ordinary pre-teen boy – he's cute, he's polite, he's helpful around the house – but that cherubic smile hides a secret: Mikey is a stone-cold psychopathic killer. After gruesomely dispatching his adoptive family and making it look like a home invasion, Mikey is sent to live with a new family: the Trentons. All goes well at first, but Mikey's increasingly odd behavior raises some red flags in the household and in his school. Pretty soon, Mikey is up to his insane old tricks again, endangering the lives of everyone around him.
THE BACKSTORY: MIKEY was written by television writer Jonathan Glassner, who spent years working on shows such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Freddy's Nightmares, and 21 Jump Street. Upon its release it was banned in the UK due to uncomfortable similarities to an infamous crime in which two young boys killed a 2-year-old. It is still banned there to this day.
WHY IT'S GREAT: There have been plenty of what I call "evil little shit" movies. From The Bad Seed to The Good Son to The Omen, the horror genre has always enjoyed unnerving audiences with the sight of an angelic lil tot terrorizing peers and adults alike. While it may not be the best of the bunch, MIKEY is a solid entry in the subgenre. Why is it so successful? Simple: Mikey, played by Brian Bonsall (best remembered as Andy in Family Ties), is a truly despicable sonofabitch, maybe the most punchable evil little shit of the lot (all due respect, Macauley Culkin). If I had children I might be terrified of them thanks to Mikey; I certainly wouldn't show them this mean mother of a movie.
That meanness is part of the film's appeal, no doubt. Depicting Mikey as a conscienceless psycho willing to violently kill off anyone who displeases him, Dennis Dimster's movie is a very lean, to-the-point slasher which opens in startling fashion. Without spoiling anything, I'll say the way Mikey's family is put out to pasture is creepy in the extreme, and the movie only gets more uncompromising from there. There is no mystery to who Mikey is, no explanation for his evil spirit; he's simply a monster who happens to be a 10-year-old boy. Once you get on board with that somewhat unnerving prospect, you're in for a queasily entertaining thriller. The rough part is, everyone in Mikey's orbit is genuinely nice, to him and to each other, which makes the knowledge that he's eventually going to do away with some – or all – of them rather chilling.
Also quite chilling is the relationship Mikey develops with his neighbor Jessie (Josie Bissett). Here the movie certainly veers into cringe-worthy territory, as Mikey stalks and records Jessie without her knowledge; he's also not shy about giving her a not-so-innocent hug. More than a crush, the obsession Mikey develops for Jessie is probably the most disconcerting aspect of the movie. Sadly for Jessie's on-again/off-again boyfriend and her cat(!), Mikey won't let anything stand in between him and the lady he loves.
The performances in the movie are, natural, I suppose. Bonsall does what he must to sell both Mikey's sinister nature and the pleasant facade he puts on to fool people. Most importantly, he makes us want to wring the twisted little bastard's neck, and that's all that matters when it comes to a character like this. John Diehl and Mimi Craven (Wes Craven's ex-wife) are the very picture of lovable, good-hearted parents. Bissett brings a charming all-American girl charisma to Jessie, a role that could have been a bit boring in someone else's hands. And three cheers must be given to Ashley Laurence – Kirsty Cotton in the Hellraiser films – as Mikey's suspicious teacher. Laurence is really engaging here, giving us a character we truly root for. If she can expose Mikey for the rotten wacko he really is, we'll start feeling good about the world again.
But if you came here looking for happy endings, Mikey has different plans in mind. True to its main character, this movie doesn't have time for sympathy.
BEST SCENE: The finale, in which Mikey's new parents find out just how bad of a seed he really is, is simultaneously creepy and tragic. If I could only get my hands around that kid's neck!
WHERE TO WATCH: MIKEY can be streamed on Amazon Prime, Tubi, and YouTube. A brand new Blu-ray from MVD will be available starting August 11th.
PARTING SHOT: It may not get the same love some of those classic evil little shit movies do, but Mikey is a simple, effective, go-for-the-jugular thriller that should not be ignored. Mikey doesn't like being ignored…