Bob Hare writes about Badlands in his seminal book on psychopathy, Without Conscience: If Kit is the movie maker’s conception of a psychopath, Holly is the real thing, a talking mask simply going through the motions of feeling deeply. Her narration is delivered in a monotone and embellished with phrases drawn straight from the glossies telling young girls what they should feel. If there was ever an example of ‘knowing the words but not the music’ Spacek’s character is it.
