Best movie ever!

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

A great horror/drama movie must watch movie i don't understand why it has such a low rating some great acting from child hood stars them self's (Macaulay Culkin & Elijah Wood)

THE GOOD SON is one of many psycho-thrillers that were made in the early 1990s in the wake of the success of the likes of FATAL ATTACTION, BASIC INSTINCT and THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE. Most of these could be easily categorised by the type of person who was the villain, i.e. 'bad cop' (UNLAWFUL ENTRY), 'bad neighbour' (PACIFIC HEIGHTS), 'bad husband' (SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY). THE GOOD SON is, as you'd guess from the title, about a bad kid.Said kid is Macauley Culkin, a wonderful piece of casting against type by the producers. So long we've had to put up with Culkin in his sickly-sweet roles but here he portrays somebody very different indeed and, inevitably, this turns out to be the best performance of his career. Culkin is excellent, truly portraying a character beyond his years, and he helps to make the movie.It helps that everything else is right, too. The script focuses on realism throughout, and there's plenty of characterisation to make the viewer feel truly grounded in the experience. Aside from the ending, things don't get over the top with the style or direction. There are a handful of set-pieces which really work (like the bit with the bridge), and some incredible stunt work that left me breathless, like the whole bit with the tree house. As somebody with a fear of heights, such moments turned my legs to jelly.Elijah Wood made a point of appearing in plenty of twee kid's films during the 1990s (FREE WILLY anyone?) but this is one of his most interesting movies from that decade. David Morse is typically good as Wood's father. The script stays grounded throughout, the psychological insight is as interesting as the thriller aspects of the story, and it all finishes in a satisfying way that goes against Hollywood convention. Good stuff.

This movie is one of my guilty pleasure. I just love the inner battle between two of the best child actors of the 1990's. Both, Macaulay Culkin and Elijah Woods are wonderful in the roles, they play in this film. Some critics might hate this movie because of the controversy of having the 1990's Home Alone play such an evil role. I didn't mind, because it's shows how great Macaulay Culkin can act. Who knew that the Home Alone kid could be so creepy? And the horrid part is that he looked so natural playing a scheming, serial-killing kid. Directed by Joseph Ruben, the movie starts with 12-year-old Mark Evan (Elijah Wood) having to move to Maine to stay with his Uncle Wallace (Daniel Hugh Kelly) and Aunt Susan (Wendy Crewson) after one of his parents has die, and the other is on an oversea trip. While, there he meets with their son, Henry (Macaulay Culkin). They slowly become good friends, but after a series of sinister acts by Henry, Mark starts to question their friendship as he thinks that Henry might be more dangerous than what he seems. Too bad, that none of the adults believe him. Elijah Wood is just amazing actor when he was younger. He is a winner early on in his career and the proof is in this role. His eyes convey such fear and concern that you really feel his performance is for real. The two stars have great chemistry together. They work with each other so well, I thought this story could have been a real life story. Trust me, why the movie might not seem real. I heard news stories of very evil children doing awful things to each other, without the adults knowing. So it's not so far fetch like some critics panned it to be. The settling in Maine, makes it seem like the movie was written by Stephen King. Surprising it wasn't. A tie-in novel was published alongside the movie's release in 1993, written by Todd Strasser. That explain more about Henry's backstory. The book also concludes differently from the movie that interesting to read. The screen writing by Ian McEwan might be a bit over the top and pretty exaggerated in the film. Even if a child is a sociopath, it still has a child's vocabulary, intelligence, etc. Just being a sociopath doesn't mean you sound like Hannibal Lecter right from the womb. Also, they tend to master the art of acting and sounding normal, which is how they make their way through life without people cluing in. Granted Henry is pretty young and may not have learned those skills yet, but this movie really stretches reality with how obviously unsettled he is and the fact that even people trained to recognize a disturbed child can't see him. The actions he did doesn't seem too far from what an evil child might have done. It's hammed up, but it's no different from any other evil bad seed film like 2009's Orphan and 1956's Bad Seed. Yes, the film was inappropriate for children, but it never was for kids. It's a thriller, and a scary movie. So for Robert Ebert to call the film a creepy, unpleasant experience. I think the movie did its purpose. It's not supposed to make you feel lovely, it's a horror movie. I don't understand why people think this movie is any different than other horror films. At less, this horror movie was smart. I love the final action scene at the end of the cliffs. In my opinion, it's one of my favorite fight scenes in the 1990s. It's get more intense, when a hard choice was given to one of the main characters. I wouldn't spoil it for you. The music by Elmer Bernstein was chilling and works for the intense moments. In my opinion, this R film isn't that bad. Yes, it has children fighting, harsh language, and smoking, but it's not as gory as 1984's Children of the Corn, and 1976's the Omen. This movie could had been rated PG-13 with a few edits. The DVD transfer is good. So it's worth finding this movie, it's has a lot of DVD extras worth checking out. Overall: This film isn't for the faint of heart conservative watchers. You have to open to anything, even if it's seems odd for a child to act this way. Once you get pass that, you will realize that this movie isn't as bad as what some critics say it is. You find yourself, cheering Elijah Wood on with this thriller as the story takes you in. You find out that the film is badly overlook and panned by critics just angry because at the time Culkin was American darling at the time and they believe that he shouldn't play a bad seed at the time. It's like watching 1930's horror movie with Shirley Temple as an evil daughter. People are just typecasting the child actor to only family friendly roles. The Good Son is a rare gem of a horror movie that needs to be check out again. It's a good movie, and it's good enough for me.

One of the best things about being a Horror freak is discovering these little Easter egg surprises in "old" films. This time, I had the pleasure of finding Macaulay Culkin and Elijah Wood as little kids, playing in one of the most disturbing, unnerving and well made Thrillers I've ever seen.Not using any cheats at all (I mean none - no sudden loud music that would force the audience to jump, no nude shots, no cellphone without a battery or signal and no cars that won't start), The Good Son derived its Horror aspect from pure reality. There's nothing supernatural or involving esoteric theories. Just a blunt and slightly exaggerated case of Psychopathy in children. Good ol' fashion uneasy horror!The acting is wonderful and almost flawless! David Morse (Mark's father Jack) and Daniel Hugh Kelly's characters weren't given enough screen time to really have depth, and I found Morse's acting to be slightly unconvincing (he didn't really make me feel like he was a recently widowed father). Besides that - nothing but praises. Wendy Crewson was excellent as Susan Evans, little Quinn Culkin (Macaulay's sister) was quite impressive as Connie Evans (especially the pond scene, that took some talent and probably lots of practice), and Jacqueline Brookes really managed to portray the elderly kind-hearted and empathetic psychiatrist Alice Devenport. As for the two "stars" - Elijah Wood seemed to have been made for the role of Mark, the kid who had recently lost his mother. His big round eyes, when wearing a sad expression, are a secret weapon for any director. His laughter immediately made me think of his role as Frodo Baggins, and reminded me of his great talent of depicting the full spectrum of emotions (although for that one must also bear in mind his role as the cannibal killer in Sin City). And for the grand finale - Macaulay Culkin. Dear God, I'll never be able to view Home Alone/Richi Rich/The Pagemaster the same way! Talk about a talented kid actor with many faces... Culkin's acting as "evil" Sociopath non-caring Henry Evans was creepy and disturbing to the point of being truly horrific! Try to count how many time he really smiled, and in which situations. Macaulay Culkin was the single most disturbing "evil child" I've seen so far, more that any of the Children of the Corn or The Children cast.The story was also profound, and the events that described Mark's relationship with Henry were realistic, reasonable, clear and horrifying. None of the scenes felt redundant or forced in any way, and some of them were as sad and touching as the others were creepy and bone chilling. My only slight small problem was the with the final scene. Without giving any spoilers, it simply felt unrealistic and I didn't think it could happen that way in real life. Though you might disagree.All in all - I don't think I have anything bad to say about this film. I'd have given it a 10 had I not felt biased due to Culkin and Wood's other roles which I've seen prior to this film. However, even if you haven't seen any of them in action before - if you're a Children Horror/Thriller fan you simply cannot let yourself pass on this one. Extremely highly recommended!