1974 Made-for-TV Horror Movie Haunted a Generation and Became a Cult Classic
The 1974 made-for-TV movie Bad Ronald has an impossible-to-shake premise made of 100% nightmares. If you've ever felt like you're being watched from inside the house, this unfathomably disturbing, low-budget film is probably one of the reasons why. The unforgettable movie Bad Ronald not only scared the pants off viewers in the 1970s, but it's become a surprisingly lasting cult classic that gets rewatched today.
Horror fans are apparently nowhere near done being freaked out by Bad Ronald. The TV movie is listed on numerous pop culture roundups of horror movies and thrillers today. Here are just few current lists that include the TV horror film:
- It made the The Best Made-For-TV Horror Movies Of All Time list at Giant Freakin Robot.
- Check out the Scariest ABC Movies of the Week From Bad Ronald to Crowhaven Farm on Collider.
- Of course, it landed on this one Movies in Which Creepy People Hide in a House Without Anyone Knowing So They Can Watch, also on Collider.
- And it's No. 2 on The Top 50 1970s Made for TV Horror/Thriller Movies on IMDB.
For anyone who hasn't seen the film, or was wise enough to block out the terrifying tale (spoilers ahead), the movie follows the socially awkward, teenager Ronald Wilby (Scott Jacoby), who is often ridiculed and bullied by his classmates. In a unkind confrontation with his mean girl neighbor Carol Matthews (Angela Hoffman), Ronald overreacts and shoves Carol to the ground, where she strikes her head and dies.
After the accident, Ronald's mom Elaine Wilby (Kim Hunter) panics, and the two of them decide to hide Ronnie inside their house by walling up one of the bathrooms and creating a creepy hidey hole where Ronald can live-complete with a secret escape door through the kitchen pantry so he can come and go-until they figured out what to do next.
The plan falls apart when Ronald's mother dies suddenly, their house is sold, and a new family moves in. Yes, and Ronald is still living inside there, and this new family doesn't know it!
Ronald, quickly declining into madness, watches the family through peepholes and sneaks out to steal their food and other items. Of course, he is eventually discovered and everything comes crashing down for Ronald and the family.
Nowadays we know poor Ronald Wilby was having a severe mental health crisis, but back in the '70s we weren't that emotionally intelligent, and we simply made terror and nightmares from the story-terror and nightmares that have never gone away.
Bad Ronald is based on the Jack Vance novel with the same title. The made-for-TV movie, directed by Buzz Kulik, first aired on October 23, 1974, on ABC. Along with Jacoby, Hunter, and Hoffman, the movie also starred Dabney Coleman (9 to 5, On Golden Pond), Pippa Scott, and John Larch.
The film is one of the earliest "killer living in the walls" thrillers, predating and possibly even inspiring some aspects of films like Hider in the House (1989), The People Under the Stairs (1991), and one could even argue, the Oscar-winning South Korean film Parasite (2020).
Decades later, the Bad Ronald movie is still lurking around in its eerie, strangely celebrated hidey hole of 1970s made-for-TV cinema. It has a 6.6/10 rating on IMDB, and 67% Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Bad Ronald is currently available for streaming via Prime Video, where subscription and other fees may apply.
Watch the Bad Ronald trailer:
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Check out this clip from the TV movie Bad Ronald:
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This story was originally published May 16, 2026 at 3:16 PM.