ironhorse_iv Review of The Good Son

The Good Son (1993)

The Good Son was a good movie in my opinion. Still, it's no kid movie. .

[7/10 · 2 August 2013]

This movie is one of my guilty pleasure. I just love the inner battle between two of the best child actors of the 1990's. Both, Macaulay Culkin and Elijah Woods are wonderful in the roles, they play in this film. Some critics might hate this movie because of the controversy of having the 1990's Home Alone play such an evil role. I didn't mind, because it's shows how great Macaulay Culkin can act. Who knew that the Home Alone kid could be so creepy? And the horrid part is that he looked so natural playing a scheming, serial-killing kid. Directed by Joseph Ruben, the movie starts with 12-year-old Mark Evan (Elijah Wood) having to move to Maine to stay with his Uncle Wallace (Daniel Hugh Kelly) and Aunt Susan (Wendy Crewson) after one of his parents has die, and the other is on an oversea trip. While, there he meets with their son, Henry (Macaulay Culkin). They slowly become good friends, but after a series of sinister acts by Henry, Mark starts to question their friendship as he thinks that Henry might be more dangerous than what he seems. Too bad, that none of the adults believe him. Elijah Wood is just amazing actor when he was younger. He is a winner early on in his career and the proof is in this role. His eyes convey such fear and concern that you really feel his performance is for real. The two stars have great chemistry together. They work with each other so well, I thought this story could have been a real life story. Trust me, why the movie might not seem real. I heard news stories of very evil children doing awful things to each other, without the adults knowing. So it's not so far fetch like some critics panned it to be. The settling in Maine, makes it seem like the movie was written by Stephen King. Surprising it wasn't. A tie-in novel was published alongside the movie's release in 1993, written by Todd Strasser. That explain more about Henry's backstory. The book also concludes differently from the movie that interesting to read. The screen writing by Ian McEwan might be a bit over the top and pretty exaggerated in the film. Even if a child is a sociopath, it still has a child's vocabulary, intelligence, etc. Just being a sociopath doesn't mean you sound like Hannibal Lecter right from the womb. Also, they tend to master the art of acting and sounding normal, which is how they make their way through life without people cluing in. Granted Henry is pretty young and may not have learned those skills yet, but this movie really stretches reality with how obviously unsettled he is and the fact that even people trained to recognize a disturbed child can't see him. The actions he did doesn't seem too far from what an evil child might have done. It's hammed up, but it's no different from any other evil bad seed film like 2009's Orphan and 1956's Bad Seed. Yes, the film was inappropriate for children, but it never was for kids. It's a thriller, and a scary movie. So for Robert Ebert to call the film a creepy, unpleasant experience. I think the movie did its purpose. It's not supposed to make you feel lovely, it's a horror movie. I don't understand why people think this movie is any different than other horror films. At less, this horror movie was smart. I love the final action scene at the end of the cliffs. In my opinion, it's one of my favorite fight scenes in the 1990s. It's get more intense, when a hard choice was given to one of the main characters. I wouldn't spoil it for you. The music by Elmer Bernstein was chilling and works for the intense moments. In my opinion, this R film isn't that bad. Yes, it has children fighting, harsh language, and smoking, but it's not as gory as 1984's Children of the Corn, and 1976's the Omen. This movie could had been rated PG-13 with a few edits. The DVD transfer is good. So it's worth finding this movie, it's has a lot of DVD extras worth checking out. Overall: This film isn't for the faint of heart conservative watchers. You have to open to anything, even if it's seems odd for a child to act this way. Once you get pass that, you will realize that this movie isn't as bad as what some critics say it is. You find yourself, cheering Elijah Wood on with this thriller as the story takes you in. You find out that the film is badly overlook and panned by critics just angry because at the time Culkin was American darling at the time and they believe that he shouldn't play a bad seed at the time. It's like watching 1930's horror movie with Shirley Temple as an evil daughter. People are just typecasting the child actor to only family friendly roles. The Good Son is a rare gem of a horror movie that needs to be check out again. It's a good movie, and it's good enough for me.