The Good Son (1993)

Pretty Good

good back-story, and good acting

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The Good Son (1993) ** (out of 4) When Mark (Elijah Wood) loses his mother and his father most go a business trip, he goes to stay with his family and at first everything seems great. That's until he starts to realize that his cousin Henry (Macaulay Culkin) isn't normal yet none of the adults will believe him.I still remember all the hype surrounding this film when it first came out. Everyone was wondering how the HOME ALONE star would do in a thriller. The critics pretty much hated the movie and many of them attacked the film for showing children in such violent situations. I was never a big fan of the movie when I watched it back then but I was only thirteen at the time so I was curious if my opinion would have changed after seeing it as an adult. Well, it actually didn't change any.There are many problems with THE GOOD SON but the biggest is the fact that it's a pretty boring thriller that just doesn't have enough thrills to make it work. The biggest problem is certainly the screenplay because it's a rather generic story where we see Henry do one bad thing after another while the parents of course don't believe the really good kid. The good kid is tormented and of course the parents only see whenever he goes back after the bad kid. The direction is so dry and so bland that there's never any real tension going on.As far as the performances go, Wood certainly steals the show and manages to turn in a very good performance. He's quite believable in the part of a young man who has lost his mother and is now dealing with even more trauma. David Morse is good during his few scenes as his father. Wendy Crewson is also good as the bad kids mother and especially during the finale. As far as Culkin goes, he's okay in the part. I thought he handled the brat side of the character quite well but I never really believed we went far enough in showing how crazy or demented this kid was.THE GOOD SON is mildly entertaining in a cheap "B" movie kind of way but there's no question that as a thriller it's a failure.

It must have taken some balls to make "The Good Son" - a change-of-pace if there ever was one - right at the peak of Macaulay Culkin's popularity as a wholesome, family-friendly child star, but the gamble paid off: this movie has held up very well over the years. Fluidly directed by the unheralded Joseph Ruben, with sweeping camera work and a vivid sense of place that makes the location another character, with a script that builds the suspense gradually towards a memorable cliffhanger (literally) of a climax, and further aided by a rich music score by the legendary Elmer Bernstein, this is one of the most successful thrillers of its era. Culkin is surprisingly good at being bad (and amoral, and manipulative), Elijah Wood is just as solid, and Wendy Crewson is the mother any (normal!) son would like to have. *** out of 4.

To me, nothing is scarier than an evil child. These kids are pure evil wrapped in the guise of innocence. They can usually get away with whatever they want and no one suspects their cute little angel of being a monster. Even if they are caught, what can anyone really do about it anyway? If that's not frighten enough, think about the fact that every serial killer on earth was at one time a child, and films like The Good Son represent a story that could be happening right now. The film begins when young Mark (Elijah Wood) losses his mother in a traffic accident. Mark's father is so distraught that he needs some time to himself and sends his son to live with his brother's family in the country. Both families think it will be good for Mark to be around someone his own age, his cousin Henry (Macaulay Culkin), but what they didn't know is that Henry is pure evil and has killed before. We see stories like this from time to time, but never one that is so realistic. When you think Killer Kids, movies like The Omen come to mind, but this is different as Henry isn't possessed, he's just a psychopath. This was Macaulay Culkin's first role after Home Alone and he is beyond terrific. At his age, Culkin is asked to play two roles, the innocent kid with the face of an angel and the demented psycho with the heart of the devil. How a pre-teen, who'd only been in two films prior, could accomplish such a feat, is nothing short of astounding. Elijah Wood is also great, showing that some people are just naturally talented. I've seen Wood in dozen's of things since The Good Son and his eyes still creep me out, it's almost like he can see right through you, and that might have made him a better choice to play Henry. While Wood might have had the look, you'd be hard pressed to find any kid who could do a better job than Culkin did here. The Good Son is mysterious, creepy, and a whole lot of fun to watch. It's among my favorite Horror films and really is one of the most underrated films of the nineties.

I was actually really surprised at the ratings of the film, so I looked at many of the reviews before putting mine down. Maybe I was missing some pretty horrible aspects to the movie. So I watched the movie again and I read the reviews. I think one of the interesting things was that people rated this movie really low because they didn't like the concept of an evil child or they added, there was no WHY concept to the reasons why the character did the things he did. I think I was mostly surprised at the "Why" concept. Did people really not understand that this kid felt really powerful controlling the fate of others? It was quite clear that the mean kid did not like being undermined. It was in my opinion very well introduced. At first, his enjoyment in his actions were very minor due to his first time. It seemed to me that the first time he performed his bad deeds to his brother, he might have actually been scarred or stunned. Because for a while when little Frodo enters the scene, nothing has actually happened to indicate he is a terrible child. Its not until his mother treats Frodo like her own child that Macually starts to use his will to force things the way he wants. I see similarities with how kids these days press their parents into getting what they want. I think its important to recognize the scene where little Frodo goes to the therapist and asks her about why someone could be bad for no reason, just because he likes to be bad. I think this is where people kind of go, "yeah, this movie is flawed, there's no such thing." But remember, little Frodo wasn't looking down the staircase at his mother hugging another son. Its all about perspective. It can be concluded that the bad son is probably the spoiled child, and acts up in extreme ways to get what he wants because it worked before. We have two polar characters. One character is completely helpless and his fate is controlled by the other characters in this movie, where there is Culkin, whom has deep control of his life and his wants. On another note, kids doing horrible things to animals or killing other kids is not a unheard of concept. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that there are certain mentalities that cannot be explained but diagnosed with mental disorders. People in our age have been brainwashed into thinking that kids are completely innocent in the world. Which is funny when you reflect how many times in your younger life you have laughed at someone and probably made them feel really bad, even though you didn't want to. As kids we actually hurt others more than we'd like to admit, we just choose not to admit it.