The Good Son (1993) is a psychological thriller film directed by Joseph Ruben and written by English novelist Ian McEwan.
Plot
The film begins with 13-year-old Mark Evans (the protagonist) (Elijah Wood) sitting at the bedside of his dying mother. When his mother dies, Mark realizes that he is now without a 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 delusionally believes that his mother will return. Upon reaching Wallace's house, Mark is introduced to his extended family, including his cousin Henry Evans (the antagonist) (Macaulay Culkin). Mark and Henry get along at first, though it is soon revealed that Henry is a private smoker. Henry tells Mark about his three-year-old brother Richard, who died by drowning in the bathtub a few months prior. 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 ring, where he leads Connie into thin ice, threatening to let her drown. Mark tries to tell Susan about the incident at the ice ring, 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 psychotic 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 by his mom Susan. Instead, Susan and Henry get into an argument when Susan starts to talk about getting Henry some help. Henry says to his mom that she just wants to send him to one of those places( implying possibly a mental institution to get him help for killing his brother). Henry tells his mom he'd rather much be dead and runs as if he's going to jump off the cliff where Susan goes to think about the death of her son Richard. Susan goes to the cliff, only to find Henry hiding and waiting to push her off the cliff, which he does when Susan sees him. Susan miraculously grabs onto a ledge after being pushed off by Henry. When Henry sees this, he tries a second time to kill Susan by throwing a rock at her. Before he can throw the rock at her though, Mark comes and tackles Henry down after escaping from his Uncle Wallace and Dr. Davenport. Mark and Henry fight with each other on the cliff while Susan starts to climb her way back up. Once Susan gets back up, she tries to break up the fight but both Henry and Mark fall off the cliff, each of them holding onto one of Susan's arms. After Henry and Mark keep looking up at Susan,both begging for her other hand to help pull one of them up, Susan makes the decision to drop Henry and save her nephew Mark. It is implied that Susan didn't want to kill Henry, but felt that she really couldn't help her son Henry anymore after he killed his brother and trying to kill his sister and her. This is later implied some more where at the end of the movie, Mark is telling about how he wonders if Susan would've made the same choice if she had to do it all over again. After Susan pulls Mark up, they both look down and see Henry dead on the rock below, only to be swept away by the waves. Mark reflects at the end of the movie about Susan and how she saved him, and then the credits roll.
Cast
Reaction
The film received a mostly negative response from critics, and a 21% overall score on rottentomatoes.com[1]; Roger Ebert awarded it just half a star, calling the project a "creepy, unpleasant experience".[2] He and Gene Siskel later gave it "Two Thumbs Down".[3]
Despite its negative reviews, The Good Son received $44,789,789 in domestic box office revenues, and another $15,823,219 worldwide, for a total box office take of $60,613,008.[4]
References
External links
[[Catego
