Mikey (film)
Mikey is a 1992 American psychological crime slasher film directed by Dennis Dimster and written by Jonathan Glassner.[1] It stars Brian Bonsall as Mikey, a young boy adopted by a family, who turns out to be a violent psychopath.
| Mikey | |
|---|---|
.jpg.webp) DVD cover | |
| Directed by | Dennis Dimster |
| Produced by | Peter Abrams Natan Zahavi Robert L. Levy |
| Written by | Jonathan Glassner |
| Starring | Brian Bonsall Josie Bissett Ashley Laurence John Diehl Mimi Craven Whitby Hertford Lyman Ward Lorenzo Obias |
| Music by | Tim Truman |
| Cinematography | Tom Jewett |
| Edited by | Omer Tal Natan Zahavi |
Production company | Tapestry Films |
| Distributed by | Imperial Entertainment Sterling Home Entertainment Ascot Video C/FP Video Cineglobe |
Release date |
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Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Plot
Mikey, a 9-year-old homicidal boy, is setting newspapers on fire in his basement. He blames his younger sister, Beth, when his foster mother, Grace, reprimands him for it. Grace slaps him, and he later yells at Beth, asking her why she did not defend him. He ends up throwing her doll into the pool. When Beth reaches to get it, Mikey jumps up and down on the diving board, causing her to fall into the pool and drown.
He goes upstairs to the bathroom, where he overhears Grace taking a bath and telling a friend on the phone that adopting Mikey might have been a mistake. The phone dies, and Grace notices Mikey standing in front of the tub. Startled, she chides him for not knocking before he came in. He accuses Grace and Harold of not loving him anymore, but she denies that, saying they both love him very much. However, Mikey doesn't believe her; he picks up her blow dryer, turns it on, and begins to taunt her. He throws it into the water and she is instantly electrocuted.
Mikey goes downstairs and pours marbles onto the floor. When his foster father Harold arrives home, he calmly goes to greet him. They sit and talk for a moment until Harold sees his daughter floating lifelessly in the pool. He rushes towards the door, but slips on the marbles Mikey had laid down earlier. After Harold crashes through the door panel, Mikey proceeds to kill him by beating him in the head with a baseball bat. It is then revealed that Mikey has been taping the murders in secret. Soon after that, the police have arrived to investigate the murders and they finally finds Mikey "hiding" in a closet. He tells them a man came in and killed his family.
A psychiatrist recommends that Mikey be fostered as soon as possible. His foster mother's sister is put forward as a prospective foster carer, but she does not want anything to do with Mikey. She states that he was adopted, and that it was suspected that he was abused by members of his family.
Mikey is fostered by Neil and Rachel Trenton, who don't know about Mikey's past. Mikey initially seems an amiable and loving child, asking, "Are you going to be my new mommy and daddy?" when he first meets the Trentons and exhibiting caring behavior towards his new mother's fish. However, soon Mikey begins to draw pictures of his murders, which his foster parents don't recognize. He also begins to self-mutilate his arm with a thumbtack at school. His teacher notices, and tells his foster parents, who refuse to believe it. Mikey becomes irate when his new mother sells the baby fish he was placed in charge of feeding. He yells that she doesn't really love him and that she's not his real mother, and Neil is not his real father. Another incident occurs shortly after when Mikey walks in on his mother in the bath. He says he was bringing her flowers for being such a great mom, and then sets the flowers down and picks up her curling iron. He tells her he knows that if he threw it in the water, it would electrocute her like an electric chair. She tells him to unplug it and leave. He does so without complaint.
Mikey then falls in love with his new best friend, Ben's older sister, Jessie. She, however, is not interested in him as she is 15 years old and is dating a young man named David. One night, after Mikey had slingshot rocks at Jessie's window, David is told to leave. Mikey murders Jessie's cat, Rosie, but makes it look as if David had accidentally killed her. Depressed and angry, Jessie breaks up with David. However, they later get back together; upon Mikey’s discovery of this he tricks Jessie into leaving David alone in the hot tub. Mikey yells at David for killing Rosie and kicks a stereo into the water; David is killed instantly. Once again, Mikey films the murder.
The next day, Mikey is allowed to stay home from school. He sits, with Jessie telling her not to be sad because David deserved to die for killing Rosie. Jessie tells him it’s “sick” and Mikey responds, "Now you can just love me." She tells Mikey to leave her alone when he tries to embrace her. Suspecting Mikey killed David, Jessie goes to Rachel and tells her something is wrong with Mikey and that she is in danger. Assuming Jessie is simply stressed over David, Rachel politely asks her to leave.
Mikey's teacher Shawn, who is also a family friend, discovers the connection between Mikey's previous foster mother and David. She informs Mr. Jenkins, who tells her he will go to with her to talk to the family. He finds a gun in her purse and immediately takes it.
Meanwhile, Mikey hears the argument between Rachel and Jessie. Rachel goes upstairs and finds Mikey watching a movie. He tells her he's watching ‘Mikey's Funniest Home Movies’. She realizes that it is the taping of David's murder. Mikey stands, holding a hammer. Rachel demands that Mikey give it to her and he agrees. He pretends to hand it over before smashing her hand. He begins to beat her with the hammer. She pushes him down and says it's over. He continues to beat and she begs "no more!"; she manages to lock herself in her bedroom. She tries to call for help, but the phone does not work. Mikey smashes through the patio door. He picks up a shard of glass and rushes towards Rachel with it. They both fly off the balcony and are soon discovered by Shawn and Mr. Jenkins. Rachel's throat is slit and Mikey appears to have no pulse. Mr. Jenkins says he will go in and call the police and Shawn says she'll wait. When he goes in, Mikey is still on top of Rachel. He sets his gun on the counter to call the police where unbeknownst to Jenkins, Mikey takes the gun to remove the bullets and replaces it back on the counter. Mr. Jenkins heads back outside when he realizes the phone doesn't work but passes Rachel's body and sees Mikey is no longer there. Mikey comes in with a bow and arrow; Mr. Jenkins tries to shoot, but Mikey took the bullets from the gun. Mikey then shoots him through the heart with an arrow. Shawn comes in and Mikey starts to sling marbles at her with his slingshot. He tells her he really liked her marble game and then proceeds to take a ball bearing and hit her in the head. She dies instantly.
Mikey begins to take all the dead bodies and put them at the dinner table. He also turns all the oven dials on high. His father calls and tells him he'll be home soon. Mikey then showers and goes over to Jessie's house. He asks if Ben is home. She tells him no and to go home. She slams the door and runs upstairs only to be greeted by Mikey who climbed in through his "secret" way. She tells him to use the front door to leave and locks her door. When she opens the door, Mikey shoots an arrow at her. It misses and hits a picture that once had her and David on it, but Mikey puts a photo of himself in David's place.
Hearing his dad's car pull in, Mikey rushes to greet him. Jessie tries to yell from the window, but Neil doesn't hear her and goes inside. Once inside, they chit chat for a moment. Mikey then grabs his dad's arm telling him there's a surprise. His father sees all of the murder victims, Rachel, Shawn and Mr. Jenkins along with a skeleton at the table. Speechless and unable to move, Neil's last vision is that of Mikey lighting a Molotov cocktail and throwing it into the house and the house explodes. Jessie is seen talking to cops who assure her they found the remains of a 10-year-old male.
Later, another couple is about meet their adoptive child, Josh, who was found wandering and suffering from complete amnesia. Josh is revealed to be Mikey who faked his death after the explosion incident and again asks, "Are you going to be my new mommy and daddy?" as the movie ends.
Cast
- Brian Bonsall as Michael "Mikey" Holt
- Josie Bissett as Jessie Owens
- Ashley Laurence as Shawn Gilder
- John Diehl as Neil Trenton
- Mimi Craven as Rachel Trenton
- Whitby Hertford as Ben Owens
- Lyman Ward as Mr. Jenkins
- David Rogge as David
- Mark Venturini as Detective Jack Reynolds
- Laura Robinson as Grace Calvin (last name revealed within a newspaper article in the film as "Kelvin")
- Steve Hart as Harold Calvin (last name revealed within a newspaper article in the film as "Kelvin")
- Keeley Marie Gallagher as Beth Calvin (last name revealed within a newspaper article in the film as "Kelvin")
- Lorenzo Obias as New Adoptive Father
UK ban
The film was withdrawn from release in the United Kingdom following the James Bulger murder in Liverpool in 1993. The decision was made by the BBFC which refused to issue it with a UK release certificate in 1996 - it had been classified with an 18 certificate for cinema in November 1992, but head censor James Ferman demanded the certificate be returned. Unlike other banned films that have since been reclassified and released, Mikey remains prohibited in the UK.[2]
Reception
TV Guide panned the movie, which they felt was directed with "negligible flair" and had a "horrifying but implausible story".[3] Allmovie also panned Mikey, rating it at one and a half stars out of five.[4]
See also
References
- Bush, John. "Mikey". AllMovie. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
- "BANNED: The most controversial films". The Independent. 5 October 2010. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
- "Mikey (review)". TV Guide. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
- "Mikey (1992)". Allmovie. Retrieved 2 September 2015.