MovieChat Forums > Bad Ronald (1974) Discussion > Based on a True Story.....

Based on a True Story.....

posted 17 years ago by Kris-58
3 replies | jump to latest

Help.

The "B.R." trivia section says this is based on an actual event that took place in upstate NY, but I can only find this from an old interview from the author of the book in which the TV movie is based.

"I read in a newspaper, or somewhere, an account of a mother having her child sequestered, in a house, for some reason, for a long time. And the thought was horribly fascinating, a fascinating idea.. And it just occurred to me that this would make a good theme for a horror story... I just thought I’d try my hand at it, see how it turned out… So I did, and I just tried to write it without too many dramatics, detail, gory detail, just straight- in other words I wasn’t trying to shock too many people, I just explained what I considered a fascinating, if horrible situation. And the story, I thought, turned out pretty well, even though it was very disgusting.

I think the book is a success. The character, I’m dispassionate about, I’m dispassionate in regard to all my characters. I just use them as a means to an end. I don’t have any feelings of hatred, or passion toward Bad Ronald; of course I do feel sorrow at the plight of the girls, but that’s why it’s called a horror story."

Then, at Yahoo Answers, someone asks the same question and the reply is "no its not", but the answerer doesn't base his reply on anything, so it would seem he/she doesn't know for sure.

Anyone?

[–] fivefids 16 years ago

No it's not

[–] itsalltears 16 years ago

there are lots of cases of parents locking their kids up in the house seperated from the outside world. it's an extreme form of abuse.
i doubt there's a case of a mother keeping her son hidden in a secret room because he killed someone, or of him living in the house secretly when new people move in.
one weird thing is that i first heard about this movie on loveline, and then at one point a girl called in and talked about her waking in the middle of the night to a guy in her room. they had a very big house and eventually found a little nook where this guy had been hiding and living in their house. i think he had some cigarettes and booze stashed in her closet or something. pretty freaky stuff.

i think it's sorta like the exorcist, the amityville horror, the texas chainsaw massacre, and other old stuff like that, where it's a lot of made up stuff loosely based on something real and called based on a true story to give it more legs.

[–] todrigo-1 16 years ago

There are cases of parents sequestering children for many reasons be it mental or physical deformatives or criminal acts (usually between the police putting survellience on the house and a humans desire for social and environmental interactions the criminals are only temporarily hidden). If you google "man living in attic" you will get several results of people living unbeknownst to the rightful residents. There are also many stories resulting from the Holocaust where people where hidden in attics and cellars to escape detection by the Nazi's. Also another similar character from literature is Boo Radley from To Kill a Mockingbird.