The Bad Seed (1956)

The Bad Seed is a 1956 American psychological horror-thriller film with elements of melodrama and film noir, directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Nancy Kelly, Patty Cormack, Henry Jones, and Eileen Heckart.

Plot
Air Force Colonel Kenneth Penmark (William Hopper) and his wife, Christine (Nancy Kelly), dote on their 8-year-old daughter, Rhoda (Patty McCormack) - as does their lonely landlady, Monica Breedlove (Evelyn Varden).

Unfortunately, Rhoda is a cold-blooded killer, and her mother Christine suspects she's responsible for the death of one of her classmates. Christine also experiences childhood memories of her mother searching for her.

Christine's father tells her that her biological mother was a notorious serial killer, and Christine realizes that Rhoda inherited her grandmother's madness.

Cast

 * Nancy Kelly as Christine Penmark
 * Patty McCormack as Rhoda Penmark
 * Henry Jones as LeRoy Jessup
 * Eileen Heckart as Hortense Daigle
 * Evelyn Varden as Monica Breedlove
 * William Hopper as Col. Kenneth Penmark
 * Paul Fix - Richard Bravo
 * Jesse White - Emory Wages
 * Cage Clarke as Reginald 'Reggie' Tasker
 * Joan Croydon as Claudia Fern (as Joan Croyden)
 * Frank Cady as Henry Daigle
 * Don C. Harvey as Guard in Hospital Corridor (uncredited)