The Good Son (1993)

[Mark looks down into the Well as Henry pulls out a wooden box from his pocket] “Hey, cool. What you got in the box?” – Mark

[Henry pulls out a lighter and cigarette, lighting it to hand over to Mark] “Go on.” – Henry

“They give you cancer.” – Mark

“Who cares? You’re gonna die anyways.” – Henry

Number of Times Seen – Twice (Cable in the 90’s and 20 May 2020)

Brief Synopsis – Following his mother’s death, a young kid moves in with his aunt and uncle while his father is away at work and quickly begins to see that his cousin seems to have violent tendencies.

My Take on it – This is a film that I saw not long after it came out and it always stuff in my mind largely due to the great performances by the two leads.

What’s interesting is how one of the stars was on his way up while the other was equally on his way down when this film was made.

The story itself is quite powerful in the way that they are able to show how evil can strat small and slowly grow.

MacCaley Culkin and Elijah Wood are both great in these roles because they each are able to show much intelligence with the way that their characters act along the way.

Culkin’s character performs some very scary antics that are surprising to see being done by a kid and that makes things even more interesting to watch unfold.

There are some very unrealistic aspects pf this story yet despite this, the way that they depict “young” evil is done really well.

Despite the controversy revolving around Culkin as the choice for the lead, this truly was a great decision to give him this role because of the fact that it is so very different from anything he did before or ever since which shows that he can be much more than just a cute kid on camera.

Bottom Line – Quiet a powerful story that shows how evil can be created. Both Culkin and Wood are great in these roles because we can easily see the intelligence of both of them. Some of the antics that Culkin performs are quite scary to watch given his character’s young age. This film obviously has some very unrealistic aspects to it, but the fact that they are able to give us a view of how life would be kid with evil inclinations is done really well. Great choice for Culkin to play this character because it is so far removed from the kind of characters he played in most of his films. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Jesse Bradford was originally slated to play Henry. Macaulay Culkin’s father wanted his son to star, saying he would pull Macaulay out of Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) if he wasn’t cast in this movie. Fox agreed due to Macaulay’s bankability. (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy (7/10)