Mikey (film)
Encyclopedia
Mikey is a 1992 horror film
directed by Dennis Dimster and starring Brian Bonsall
. The film centers on the character of Mikey Holt, a young boy who is adopted by a family after his previous adoptive family dies. Rather than the darling child they expected, however, Mikey turns out to be a violent sociopath
and a budding serial killer
.
) lives with has a series of unexplained "accidents" and hence he's moved from home to home.
Mikey is disciplined by his foster parents for starting a fire indoors, so he responds by causing his foster sister to drown in the pool, electrocuting his foster mother while she's in the bath, and killing his foster father with a bat. Mikey avoids suspicion because he's only 9 and by telling the police that an intruder killed his foster family.
Mikey falls in love with the his best friend's older sister but as she's 15 years older than him she isn't interested in Mikey. His teacher is also investigating him because she's noticed something odd about Mikey's behaviour. In an attempt to make Jessie love him, he electrocutes David while he's in the jacuzzi. After this fails Mikey kills his foster father, his foster mother, his teacher with a slingshot and ball bearings, the school's principal and almost kills Jessie. To avoid being blamed he fakes his own death using the body of a boy the same age as him. Jessie is told by the authorities that Mikey is dead. At the end of the movie Mikey now calls himself Josh and has been adopted by another family. This new family are folk singers and he join them as a performing act and sings his own compositions, happy sounding songs trivially depicting how his other foster families met their demise. His new family seem unaware of the sinister content of his popular sing-along songs.
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. Unlike other banned films that have since been reclassified and released, this film remains prohibited in the UK.
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
directed by Dennis Dimster and starring Brian Bonsall
Brian Bonsall
Brian Eric Bonsall is an American former child actor. He is best known for playing the youngest Keaton child, Andy, on the NBC sitcom Family Ties from 1986 through 1989. He is also known for his portrayal of Alexander Rozhenko, the son of Worf, on Star Trek: The Next Generation.- Early life and...
. The film centers on the character of Mikey Holt, a young boy who is adopted by a family after his previous adoptive family dies. Rather than the darling child they expected, however, Mikey turns out to be a violent sociopath
Antisocial personality disorder
Antisocial personality disorder is described by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fourth edition , as an Axis II personality disorder characterized by "...a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood...
and a budding serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
.
Plot
Every family Mikey (Brian BonsallBrian Bonsall
Brian Eric Bonsall is an American former child actor. He is best known for playing the youngest Keaton child, Andy, on the NBC sitcom Family Ties from 1986 through 1989. He is also known for his portrayal of Alexander Rozhenko, the son of Worf, on Star Trek: The Next Generation.- Early life and...
) lives with has a series of unexplained "accidents" and hence he's moved from home to home.
Mikey is disciplined by his foster parents for starting a fire indoors, so he responds by causing his foster sister to drown in the pool, electrocuting his foster mother while she's in the bath, and killing his foster father with a bat. Mikey avoids suspicion because he's only 9 and by telling the police that an intruder killed his foster family.
Mikey falls in love with the his best friend's older sister but as she's 15 years older than him she isn't interested in Mikey. His teacher is also investigating him because she's noticed something odd about Mikey's behaviour. In an attempt to make Jessie love him, he electrocutes David while he's in the jacuzzi. After this fails Mikey kills his foster father, his foster mother, his teacher with a slingshot and ball bearings, the school's principal and almost kills Jessie. To avoid being blamed he fakes his own death using the body of a boy the same age as him. Jessie is told by the authorities that Mikey is dead. At the end of the movie Mikey now calls himself Josh and has been adopted by another family. This new family are folk singers and he join them as a performing act and sings his own compositions, happy sounding songs trivially depicting how his other foster families met their demise. His new family seem unaware of the sinister content of his popular sing-along songs.
Cast
- Brian BonsallBrian BonsallBrian Eric Bonsall is an American former child actor. He is best known for playing the youngest Keaton child, Andy, on the NBC sitcom Family Ties from 1986 through 1989. He is also known for his portrayal of Alexander Rozhenko, the son of Worf, on Star Trek: The Next Generation.- Early life and...
as Mikey Holt - Ashley LaurenceAshley LaurenceAshley Laurence is an American film and television actress. She is noted for her appearances in horror films, particularly the Hellraiser series.-Career:...
as Shawn Gilder - John Diehl as Neil Trenton
- Mimi Craven as Rachel Trenton
- Whitby HertfordWhit Hertford- Biography :His mother, Carol Hertford, raised Whit and his two younger sisters, Chelsea and Brighton in Oak Park, CA. He is the son of the late stage director, Bruce Hertford. He lives in Los Angeles.- Career :...
as Ben Owens - Lyman WardLyman WardLyman Ward is a Canadian actor.-Biography:Ward was born and raised in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada and graduated from Saint Malachy's Memorial High School in the class of 1958, and then in 1963 from St...
as Mr. Jenkins - Josie BissettJosie BissettJosie Bissett is the stage name of Jolyn Christine Heutmaker , an American actress best known for her role as Jane Mancini on the television series Melrose Place.-Early life :...
as Jessie Owens - David Rogge as David
- Mark VenturiniMark VenturiniMark Venturini was an American actor who starred in movies and appeared on television.He was perhaps best known for his role in movies like Friday the 13th: A New Beginning as Victor, and Return of the Living Dead as Suicide . Mark's final movie was in the 1995 movie Out-of-Sync...
as Det. Jack Reynolds - Laura Robinson as Grace Calvin
UK ban
The film was withdrawn from release in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
following the James Bulger murder
Murder of James Bulger
James Patrick Bulger was a boy from Kirkby, England, who was murdered on 12 February 1993, when aged two. He was abducted, tortured and murdered by two ten-year-old boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables .Bulger disappeared from the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle, near Liverpool, while...
in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
in 1993. The decision was made by the BBFC
British Board of Film Classification
The British Board of Film Classification , originally British Board of Film Censors, is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification of films within the United Kingdom...
which refused to issue it with a UK release certificate in 1996. Unlike other banned films that have since been reclassified and released, this film remains prohibited in the UK.
External links
- BANNED: The most controversial films - Mikey The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...