Child of Rage
| Child of Rage | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Biography Drama Mystery |
| Written by | Phil Penningroth Suzette Couture |
| Directed by | Larry Peerce |
| Starring |
Ashley Peldon Mel Harris Dwight Schultz Sam Gifaldi |
| Theme music composer | Gerald Gouriet |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Chuck McLain Christy Welker |
| Producer(s) |
Connie Brescher (associate producer) Charles Morales (associate producer) David A. Shepherd (producer) (as David Shepherd) |
| Location(s) | Vancouver |
| Cinematography | Tony Imi |
| Editor(s) | Susan B. Browdy |
| Running time | 94 min. |
| Production company(s) | Republic Television |
| Distributor | CBS |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Original release | September 29, 1992 |
Child of Rage is a CBS Television movie made in 1992 starring Ashley Peldon and Mel Harris. The film is based on the true story of Beth Thomas, who suffered from severe behavioral problems as a result of being sexually abused as a child. The film was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia, with classroom scenes being filmed at Mary Hill Elementary School.
Jill Tyler and her minister husband Rob Tyler adopt two children, Catherine and Eric. Eric is a sweet and timid child, while Catherine seems to come across as being the same. Catherine soon displays outbursts of violent rage for no apparent reason, affecting her behavior and interaction with others. At first, some of her violent acts (such as killing a clutch of baby birds and attacking Eric while he sleeps) go unnoticed, but when it progresses to tearing her room apart and stabbing the family dog with a needle, Jill and Rob sense something is wrong. They attempt to ask Doris, the children's caseworker, about anything in Catherine's past that might explain it, but Doris cites confidentiality laws and only suggests that Jill and Rob bring the children back if they're unable to handle them.
Following an equally disturbing incident where Catherine engages in sexually inappropriate behavior with her adoptive grandfather, Jill and Rob take her to a psychologist, but she puts on a good show while there and convinces him that there's nothing wrong. A short time later, Jill notices fresh bruises on Eric, and though he's initially scared to say anything, she gets him to admit that it was Catherine who inflicted them, though these are relatively minute compared to her next episode, where she repeatedly smashes Eric's head on the concrete basement floor, landing him in the emergency room.
At this point, Doris finally admits the truth about the children's past: after receiving a concerned phone call, she rescued the children from an abusive and neglectful home, which was one of the worst she'd seen. Although Eric was in bad shape, it was nothing compared to the condition Catherine was found in, and no adults were present at the time (their biological mother was hospitalized with pneumonia, while their biological father was presumably off on a drunken bender).
...
Wikipedia