The Good Son

A young boy stays with his aunt and uncle, and befriends his cousin who’s the same age. But his cousin begins showing increasing signs of psychotic behavior.

• Director:Joseph Ruben
• Genre:Drama / Horror / Thriller
• Runtime:87 minutes

Cast

Macaulay Culkin : Henry Evans
Elijah Wood : Mark Evans
Wendy Crewson .: Susan Evans
David Morse : Jack
Daniel Hugh Kelly : Wallace Evans

The film begins with 12-year-old Mark Evans (the protagonist) (Elijah Wood) sitting at the bedside of his dying mother. Mark’s father Jack (David Morse) is unable to console his son as he is assigned for a business trip. Instead, Jack takes Mark to stay with his uncle and aunt Wallace and Susan Evans (Daniel Hugh Kelly and Wendy Crewson), but Mark delusively believes that his mother will return. Upon reaching the Evans’ house, Mark is introduced to his extended family, including his cousin Henry Evans (Macaulay Culkin). Mark and Henry get along at first. Henry tells Mark about his three-year-old brother Richard, who died by drowning in the bathtub a few years ago. Henry then shows Mark a homemade crossbow that he built that shoots screws and nails. He demonstrates the weapon by nearly hitting a nearby cat. Jack arranges for Mark to be seen by a psychologist (Jacqueline Brookes), who tries to help Mark cope with his mother’s death. Mark begins to realize that there’s something wrong with Henry when he uses his crossbow to kill the neighbor’s dog. After Henry causes a ten-car pileup by dropping a dummy (which he affectionately calls “Mister Highway”) into a busy highway, Mark unsuccessfully tries to tell Wallace about Henry’s glaringly antisocial behavior.

Things only get worse as Wallace and Susan leave the kids alone in the house as they go for a night out; Henry hints to Mark that he plans on hurting his eight-year-old sister Connie (Quinn Culkin). The next day, Henry takes Connie out to an ice-skating rink, where he leads Connie into thin ice, threatening to let her drown. Mark tries to tell Susan about the incident at the ice rink, but she is convinced that it is a lie. Mark then goes to tell his psychologist, but finds Henry conversing with her and making Mark out to be the psychopathic one. After Mark claims Henry’s mother to be his own, Henry hints to Mark that he is going to kill Susan. Eventually, Wallace tires of Mark’s paranoia and locks him up in the study while waiting for Mark’s psychologist to come over.

Meanwhile, Susan asks Henry about the death of his brother Richard. Henry doesn’t directly admit to killing his brother when asked. Instead, Susan and Henry get into an argument when they discuss getting Henry some help. Henry tells his mom he’d rather be dead and runs as if he’s going to jump off a cliff. Susan goes to the cliff, only to find Henry hiding and waiting to push her off. Susan grabs onto a ledge after being pushed off by Henry. Henry tries a second time to kill Susan by throwing a rock at her, which would knock her off, but before he can Mark tackles him. Read more

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