Scott Jacoby gives a memorably creepy performance in this popular TV-movie about a young fugitive from the law who lives in the walled-up guest bathroom of his house after his divorced mother dies and a new family moves in. Interesting, if far-fetched premise, adapted by Andrew Peter Marin from a novel by John Holbrook Vance, contains some startling scenes handled well by veteran director Buzz Kulik. Although brief at 72 minutes, the movie utilizes its time well; Kulik was obviously working against the restraints of a low budget and content requirements for television, but he admirably doesn't treat this scenario lightly. Jeered teenager Ronald, who lives in a fantasy world of doomed medieval lovers, isn't simply a misfit--he's seriously touched in the head--and Jacoby doesn't attempt to make him likable. The supporting performances are uneven, ranging from stilted to overly-broad (the nosy neighbor), yet the dark, edgy mood of the piece is conveyed very well.

I remember years ago as a kid in the 80's one Saturday afternoon on "TBS" watching this old 70's TV movie "Bad Ronald", and I remembered how chilling and creepy it was and it's still effective as I just watched the film again on DVD after many years. It paints a pretty picture of what it's like to be different and alone while having crazy, creep like perverted feelings.Set in California a young boy named Ronald(well done by Scott Jacoby)who's strange and different yet bright lives at home with mom and she has hopes of him one day becoming a doctor. Ronald tries to fit in and date a local girl yet she or none of the other teens want him as a friend, Ronald feels pain. So on the way home Ronald commits a very bad thing upon a girl who teases him, after revealing this to mom she hides him away behind a wall room of the house as Ronald becomes sheltered from the people and the police can't find him! Ronald likes being with his food, and loves to nibble on chocolate bars and passes time away by doing drawings of ancient figures and he believes in a world of another dimension of good and evil that involves strange people of a prince and princesses. Then after Ronald's mom has surgery his life takes a spin mom didn't make it and then the house is put on the market! Now enter the Woods family who move in and they are unaware about the other guest like Ronald who's got more crazy and even more creep like. The Woods family consist of a mother and father and three teenage daughters(some of the cast include Dabney Coleman, Pippa Scott, Kim Hunter, Lisa Eilbacher and Ted Ecclesas as Duane Matthews one of the girls boyfriends). And Ronald starts to sneak out and many scenes are chilling he's just like a peeping tom as he notices the young girls! It's a shock as the Woods family is unsuspecting Ronald brings his terror in the form of chasing the girls and even ties up and gags Duane who he sees as a threat. Overall great suspense horror film that stills chills by showing a different side of life always be careful as you don't know who or what is lurking around behind the shadows and corners of a hidden wall!

I watched this TV movie in January 1979 on television in England one weekday afternoon when I was off school. I was 15 years old and having a miserable time in my life. Bad Ronald captured perfectly my feelings of loneliness, isolation, being trapped and retreating into myself. You can imagine that I identified closely with Ronald's experience and the film made a lasting impression on me as it seems to have done on others. A couple of years ago I did manage to get hold of it on video and saw for the first time in a quarter of a century. Happily I can watch it now with much greater detachment. The director Buzz Kulik is better known, I believe, for Brian's Song but Bad Ronald deserves to be remembered too.

This is one of my FAVORITE movies of ALL-TIME and VERY HARD TO FIND~~It took me about 6 yrs to figure out the title and another week to find it and I paid over $70 for it! The premise is of a young teen who is coddled by a protective mother and teased by peers. So much so that one day he actually has to hide from the outside world and his mom helps him make a living area, behind the pantry, in back of the staircase, unobservable to visitors to the house. But what happens when she dies and he needs to get food and take care of his basic necessities? The Brady Bunch type family moves in and Ronald has drawn artwork on the walls in his cubby, and written a fantasy-novel that shows his romantic feelings but also his mixed-up mind...A GREAT movie to spook you if you live in an old house...and the simple, 70's special effects make this a great thrill, that is not even diminished by it being in black and white.