Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

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

Ronald Wilby certainly isn't your run-of-the-mill, sadistic and cruel serial killer. Played by Scott Jacoby, who starred as Mario in The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976), Ronald never meant to kill anyone. It was just an accident that got him condemned to living in the walls of his mom's creepy old house.So why rate this relatively unknown mystery/horror film a 10/10? Well, it has to be one of the most thrilling horror films I've ever seen, and Ronald is definitely a misunderstood character. His mother is sick and she has good intentions but doesn't understand why her son is bullied. He's a rather nerdy guy, but he also has a love for Chinese paintings, inventing his own fictional kingdom on paper. On his birthday, he stops by to see some "friends" and they all make fun of him. In dismay he leaves, only to knock the little sister of one of the bullies off her bike by mistake. She insults him, they argue, and he pushes her... and SPLAT, she hits her head on a brick of concrete.Ronald's mother helpfully hides him in the walls, in their elaborate plan to stage his supposed running away to nosy neighbors and cops. When she goes for an operation one day, she dies in the hospital, leaving a new family buying the decrepit house and poor Ronald stuck trying to keep his home, and existence, a secret, especially with Mrs. Schumacher, the next-door old bat, always peeping in the windows to spy.The soundtrack, it's very nostalgic with a 1970's atmosphere, and both melancholy and incredibly creepy, perfect for this movie. The acting was great, the plot original, and the movie was very sad in some ways but it has its comedic moments: Mrs. Schumacher makes a large assortment of funny faces each time she peeks into the window of the house. The good-natured but bumbling police officer is certainly no help, but very funny as he repeatedly is oblivious to the obvious.Don't pass this retro classic by, it's a film you'll want to see if you're an avid horror fan, mystery fan, Scott Jacoby fan or just somebody looking for an entertaining film to watch. I also recommend The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976), Don't Go in the House (1979), Magic (1978) and The Changeling (1980).

After accidentally killing a girl, teenager Ronald Wilby (Scott Jacoby) is hidden away from cops in a secret room in the house by his domineering mother (Kim Hunter). Poor Ronald is left all alone when she passes away. Sad Ronald finds the situation gets better and worse when Mr. Wood (Dabney Coleman) moves into the house with his wife and three daughters. Bad Ronald, whose mindset is becoming increasingly delusional, becomes fixated on the youngest daughter (Cindy Fisher) and begins to imagine she is the princess for the imaginary kingdom in his head. Highly effective TV-movie from director Buzz Kulik that is based on the novel by John Holbrook Vance. You do actually feel sorry for the boy and Jacoby gives a great performance, especially for a teen. The end is very rushed, but it is after all a TV movie. Expanded and it could be a top-notch thriller that still would work today. When I see something like this I wonder why Hollywood never tackles this kind of material for a remake (the French did a version in the early 1990s).

Nerdy high school student Ronald (Scott Jacoby) accidentally kills a fellow female classmate who is making fun of him (he pushes her and her head hits a brick). He goes home and tells his VERY overprotective mother (Kim Hunter). She decides to help him. She has him cover up the door of the guest bedroom and have him hide in there. Then she goes to the hospital for an operation...and dies. Ronald finds out and begins to go crazy. Then a family moves in with some beautiful teenage girls...Highly improbable TV movie. I saw it on TV back in 1974 when I was 12. I watched it cause it was being sold as a horror movie but, even at that age, I quickly realized how silly this was. A mother protecting her son when he murders someone? A family moves into a house and doesn't notice a whole section sealed off? And Ronald has holes in the wall to look out--and nobody notices????? The stupidity level is high here. Also it has a bad title and a lousy ending But, in a way, it's kind of OK. Jacoby isn't bad and Hunter has always been good. For a quickly made TV movie it's not bad. Still...nothing to seek out. I give it a 5 (mostly for the acting).