Review of The Good Son (1993) by Vince F — 01 Aug 2009

Another psycho kiddie on a rampage opus that fails miserably and then some. The movie doesn't want to be a slasher and wants to be a more sophisticated thriller opus.

After Mark's (the always annoying a ugly Elijah Wood) mother dies, his dad leaves him with his relatives to attend a business trip. Why the hell hasn't Mark ever met these people if their suppose to be good family? He meets his cousin Henry (played badly and so over the top by the laughable Macaulay Culkin), things go ok for a bit until Mark finds out that Henry is anything but a good son, and more a pre-Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer baddie. He must convince his relatives Henry isn't what he seems before bad things happen to all of them.

One thing this movie suffers from is the character of Henry. In Orphan and Mikey our two toddler psychos actually came off as real 9 year old kids, thus making their brutal actions all the more sinister. But not Henry. Hes waaaay to smart with sophisticated dialogue to be a real kid. This way it makes him just come off as a plot device there to set the chain of events in motion. Not once was I intrigued or scared by this product as he did not have one ounce of real real human traits. His motivations are a little shaky and seem to be caused by spoiled brat syndrome (I think he kills his baby brother for taking is rubber ducky WTF!?!?

Also the movie has the idiot plot syndrome where NO ONE believes Marks accusations of Henry despite the fact that its all too obvious and right in front of their faces. I found myself continuously yelling at the characters for being morons and down right stupid. Usually this would be a case of rooting for Henry to take them out, but since hes a plot device, not a character, the movie gives you no one to root for.

Also, the movie chickens out in the murder and mayhem Henry is suppose to be doing. We have offscreen drowning of a baby, which was shown onscreen in Mikey, as well as a cope out murder attempt that also happened in Orphan where a kid ALMOST dies but then lives just so up tight PC type parents won't get offended. Why the hell would you even want to see a movie about a psycho kid anyways in fear of being offended?

The move is also a connect the dots of storytelling with so many obvious and predictable foreshadowing of certain elements that will come in handy down the road. The ending is also contrived and manipulative. A lifeless score that did nothing in terms of suspense as well as a overly sappy tear jerky demeanor (No I didn't care for Mark losing his mom, get over it all ready) and good looking visuals but a stale and lifeless approach from the director.

Please don't see this movie. It's a gutless and Macaulay Culkin sponge hack fest that only had one cool scene involving a stuffed dummy getting thrown over a bridge onto oncoming traffic. Everything else is just there and tries to force feed its sentimentality down your throat.

Man this movie SUCKS!!!