I had wanted to see this for a long time, and I was definitely let down.
As far as I am aware, this is the grandaddy of killer-kid movies.
The movie makes no secret of Rhoda being a murderer; her mother, Christine, figures it out in the first act, like she's Batman! I really expected a slow build, with a big reveal in the third act, but nope.
On to the problems - and there are many: First, the movie is way too long, and it's slow. Too much information is given away too early, so there is no tension. All the deaths are offscreen, so we just get people sitting around talking; almost all of this is with the adults - this needed to be Rhoda's story.
The obvious problem here is that this was made in the 1950s. How do you make such a dark film during that era? Well, you just talk about what's going on instead of showing it, and you spoon feed the audience, like they're idiots. Now, to be fair, I wouldn't expect people from that time to understand psychopaths, but the filmmakers didn't seem to understand them either.
While young Patty McCormack is great as Rhoda - the best part in the movie, in fact - she was directed to play her more as a narcissist, rather than someone who lacks remorse.
Yet another misstep is the score. I don't know what movie the composer thought he was writing a score for, but it wasn't a movie about a murderous girl.
This needed to be much better, and it would be succeeded years later, by way of _The Good Son_ (1993), and _Orphan_ (2009).
Onto the final issue, the ending: [spoiler]Having foreshadowed the sleeping pills, and the gun, I knew the movie wouldn't have the balls to pay that off, and it didn't. Instead we get the double twist of mommy, and Rhoda surviving.
But what's this? Rhoda is snuffed out by Zeus! Give me a break! No "happy ending!" Only death followed by more death![/spoiler]
I thought it was super cute that the movie had a curtain call at the end; how quaint. Might have been the highlight.
Oh, one more thought: [spoiler]Rhoda may have been a killer, but some of the adults were pretty twisted too. At least Leroy died - tell me that creep wasn't guilty of something. He had it coming, I promise. Good work, Rhoda. Like a little Dexter.
And Hortense? Come on! That drunk was probably running over kids when she wasn't ringing the Penmark doorbell.[/spoiler]