MIKEY (1992)
Label: MVD Entertainment Group
Region Code:
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 90 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Dennis Dimster-Denk
Actors: Brian Bonsall, Lyman Ward, John Diehl, Ashley Lawrence, Whit Hertford, Josie Bissett
Nineties 90's killer kid flick Mikey (1992) opens with sweet, freckle-faced little Mikey (TV's Family Ties) playing with fire in the garage. His adopted mom catches him and scolds him for it, which angers Mikey. Later that day he takes out his adopted family one by one, first drowning his little sister by luring her into the deep end pool, then electrocuting mom during her bubble-bath, and then beating dad over the skull with his aluminum baseball bat! Right from the start Mikey is not fucking around, and the demon-brat gets away with it, too! Not long after he is adopted by a new set of parents, the kind-hearted Trentons, Neil (John Diehl, Mind Ripper) and Rachel (Mimi Craven, former wife of the late Wes Craven, A Nightmare on Elm Street).
Could this new family be a new beginning for little Mikey or will he revert to his evil-ways? Well, you know the answer to that, duh. He befriends a weird-looking neighbor kid named Ben (Whit Hertford, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child), and develops a crush on Ben's sexy teen sister Josie (Hitcher in the Dark). He even likes his new teacher at school, played by Hellraiser alum Ashley Laurence, but when both Ashley and school coach Mr. Jenkins (Lyman Ward, the dad from Ferris Bueller's Day Off!) begin to notice his violent and bloody drawings at school things start to fall apart, and Mikey has to kill again!
Mikey (1992) is a fun killer kid flick that I give a thumbs up to, it's a serious blast of a watch, playing very much like an inversion of the The Stepfather film series. with the kid moving from family to family instead of the father killing the families and moving on to the next one. Production wise the film is well-shot but sort of feels like made-for-TV 90's movie, that's a bit of negative to a degree but the kills are fun and the way that most of the adults disregard his dangerous behavior will have you screaming at the screen with gleeful admonishments. Having been a big fan of the TV series Family Ties in the 80's it was hoot seeing little Brian Bonsall who played Andy turn into a stone-faced psycho-killer. The kills come with a tasty variety, apparently is preferred method of murder is bathtub electrocution, but we also get death by bow and arrow, a bat to the skull, lethal slingshots, a shard of glass tot he neck and he even wrings a cat's neck! I also liked how the kid records his murders on a Hi8 camcorder and then re-watches them on the TV in his room, and when his adopted dad sees something a bit horrific on the TV he says tat it is just some horror film on TV, and the dad is none the wiser. It's fun stuff, not super gory, but they did a good job giving the kid some cheesy one-liners, and he delivers them well enough. That the film ends with a fun dead man's party and an explosion utilizing miniatures is just the cream on top of this killer kid flick.
Audio/Video: Killer kid flick Mikey (1992) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from MVD entertainment as number 22 in their MVD Rewind Collection imprint, framed in 1.78:1 widescreen and presented in 1080p HD, the source for the HD master is not indicated but it's a strong looking presentation. Right from the start the grain is tight and carries with it some fantastic detail in the close-ups, colors are vibrant and the blacks are generally very solid, though some heavier grain does appear in the darker nighttime scenes, but it still looks great with good shadow detail. At times the image gets a tad bit soft but only on occasion and for the most part everything is well-saturated. Audio on the disc comes by way of English LPCM 2.0 stereo with optional English subtitles, the track is clean and well-balanced, there's not a ton of panning effects but fidelity is solid throughout.
This is a bit of an under-the-radar indie film from the 90's so I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the extras created for it. There are only two, but they are fairly substantial, beginning with a feature-length making of documentary featuring director Dennis Dimster Denk, editor Natan Zahavi, cinematographer Tom Jewett, and star Brian Bonsal. It gets into the backstory of both director Dennis Dimster Denk, and star Brian Bonsal, both of whom were child actors. Denk featured in several TV series and made-for-TV films in the 70's, and Bonsai was a longtime regular on the beloved series Family Ties, and editor Natan Zahavi had previously worked on a few films for Cannon Film Group. They get into the casting the film, shooting it in Phoenix, Arizona, and how it's a riff on the Bad Seed killer-kid story. It's a really fascinating look into the making of this independent film, with talk about what it was like working with the Lyman Ward (Ferris Bueller's Day Off), Jose Bissett (Melrose Place), Ashley Laurence (Hellraiser), John Diehl (Stripes) and Whit Hertford (A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child) and what it was like working with the producers, who also made the action-classic Point Break.
We also get a 14-min featurette of the director atching the final leg of the film and commenting on it, pointing out what works and what doesn't, and what the thought process was behind the choices, it's a nicely candid commentary as was the making-of documentary. The disc is buttoned-up with a 2-min trailer for the film, plus about 10-minutes of MVD Entertainment trailers for the films Split Second, Mindgames, Dahmer, and Bram Stoker's Shadowbuilder.
The single-disc release comes housed in a standard
keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork, which is replicated on the limited edition slipcover that accompanies
the initial pressing of the Blu-ray. Inside there's a mini fold-out poster with the same artwork. As with the other MVD Rewind Collection releases the slipcover features a faux worn look of a video store rental complete with rewind and other video store stickers.
keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork, which is replicated on the limited edition slipcover that accompanies
the initial pressing of the Blu-ray. Inside there's a mini fold-out poster with the same artwork. As with the other MVD Rewind Collection releases the slipcover features a faux worn look of a video store rental complete with rewind and other video store stickers.
Special Features:
- NEW! Feature Length Making of Documentary: ''The Making of Mikey'' (87 min) HD
- NEW! ''Mikey: Anatomy of a Scene'' with Director Dennis Dimster-Denk (14 min) HD
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD
- MVD Trailers: Split Second, Mindgames, Dahmer, and Bram Stoker's Shadowbuilder.
- Collectible Mini-Poster
Mikey (1992) was a new discovery for me, and I think it's a bit of killer-kid gem that's riffing hard on The Bad Seed but isn't a clone, it's got a bit of The Stepfather and The Hand That Rocks The Cradle sewn into it's DNA as well. The kills were fun and darkly humorous plus the acting was none-too-shabby. It's not gonna usurp Bloody Birthday or The Pit as my favorite killer kid films, but if you like me enjoy seeing a pint-sized terror with a vein of dark humor this flick will do the trick nicely. If you already own stuff like the aforementioned Blood Birthday, The Pit and stuff like Who Can Kill A Child?, The Other, The Children and Devil Times Five I can safely say you're gonna enjoy this flick!
More screenshots from the MVD Blu-ray:
Extras:
Trailers
