Brian Bonsall of 'Family Ties' fame plays a nine year old Bad Seed who murders almost anybody who rubs him the wrong way. In the opening minutes of "Mikey", he's hard at work slaughtering his current foster family. Soon, he's adopted by well-meaning couple Neil (John Diehl, 'Miami Vice') and Rachel (Mimi Craven, "A Nightmare on Elm Street"), and to them he's a perfect little angel. But we all know it isn't going to be long before he's resuming his murderous ways.
Bonsall gives a creditable performance in this hilariously trashy, silly, nonsensical early 90s addition to the "killer kiddie" genre. Written by Jonathan Glassner, it enacts an unsurprising scenario wherein some adults and older people get wise to Mikey, and attempt to do something about him, while Rachel and especially Neil prove to be stubborn dummies. This is also the kind of movie where victims are pretty clueless and don't do much to try to save their own lives. People may end up rooting for this psychotic brat by default.
The cast features a couple of familiar faces: also appearing are Lyman Ward (the title characters' dad in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off") as the principal, Ashley Laurence ("Hellraiser") as a concerned teacher, Josie Bissett ('Melrose Place') as the sexy teenage neighbour upon whom Mikey crushes, Mark Venturini ("The Return of the Living Dead") as a detective, and Whit Hertford ("Jurassic Park") as a neighbour boy. These people give a straight-faced go at this exploitative story, which dishes out some fairly amusing kills and half-hearted attempts at suspense. It builds to one of those grand finales that truly brings the house down.
If you're looking for familial thrillers or horror films, you could do better (yes, "The Stepfather" is a better example of this sort of thing), but ultimately "Mikey" is good for some mild chuckles, thrills, and titillation. It works best if you do NOT take it seriously.
One of the most twisted but amusing touches: Mikey takes the time to videotape all of his misdeeds, later watching the tapes and enjoying his own handiwork. He dubs them "Mikey's Funniest Home Videos".
Six out of 10.
Bonsall gives a creditable performance in this hilariously trashy, silly, nonsensical early 90s addition to the "killer kiddie" genre. Written by Jonathan Glassner, it enacts an unsurprising scenario wherein some adults and older people get wise to Mikey, and attempt to do something about him, while Rachel and especially Neil prove to be stubborn dummies. This is also the kind of movie where victims are pretty clueless and don't do much to try to save their own lives. People may end up rooting for this psychotic brat by default.
The cast features a couple of familiar faces: also appearing are Lyman Ward (the title characters' dad in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off") as the principal, Ashley Laurence ("Hellraiser") as a concerned teacher, Josie Bissett ('Melrose Place') as the sexy teenage neighbour upon whom Mikey crushes, Mark Venturini ("The Return of the Living Dead") as a detective, and Whit Hertford ("Jurassic Park") as a neighbour boy. These people give a straight-faced go at this exploitative story, which dishes out some fairly amusing kills and half-hearted attempts at suspense. It builds to one of those grand finales that truly brings the house down.
If you're looking for familial thrillers or horror films, you could do better (yes, "The Stepfather" is a better example of this sort of thing), but ultimately "Mikey" is good for some mild chuckles, thrills, and titillation. It works best if you do NOT take it seriously.
One of the most twisted but amusing touches: Mikey takes the time to videotape all of his misdeeds, later watching the tapes and enjoying his own handiwork. He dubs them "Mikey's Funniest Home Videos".
Six out of 10.