This Day In Theaters: Sept 24, 1993

The Good Son (1993)

 

 Ah yes, everyone's favorite blonde haired menace is back to more hijinks. Is it the wet bandits back for revenge? Nope, this time around his objective is to eliminate his family. And we're not talking about putting some Micro Machines in the foyer. This time around he shoots at a cat with arrows, throws his sister through a frozen pond, drowns his baby brother, and lures his mother to the edge of a cliff; all while physically and psychologically tormenting a young Frodo Baggins. 

From Roger Ebert:

"The movie is a creepy, unpleasant experience, made all the worse because it stars children too young to understand the horrible things we see them doing."

Entertainment Weekly had another take:

"(It is) a nasty and rich pop thriller that looks at a child and sees the numb blandness of a future serial killer...'The Good Son' delivers its knuckle-gnawing set pieces with a skill that makes other thrillers look logy."

Culkin threatening Wood with a French kiss

When I was younger I used to walk pass this film at the video store begging my mom to rent it; the only reason being it had Macaulay Culkin on the cover. I didn't get to see it until it came on one of those premium movie channels on cable some years later and I found it somewhat disturbing. Not necessarily by the content but more of the context. Looking at this movie 10 years after release, and Culkin's subsequent drop from A-list to D-list, it is clear he was pushed into this film as an attempt by his father to diversify him and make him more bankable. What was also clear was that Elijah Wood seemed to deliver a much better performance than Macaulay who seemed to be trying too hard to be creepy it wasn't believable. Is he to blame or the director? Who knows? But in the end this is one of those movies you should see just so you aren't left out in any conversation involving it. 

IMDb Score: 6.1

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 24%