Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
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.
The Good Son is a competent but somewhat formulaic thriller built around a creepy-child premise that was already well-worn by 1993. The plot follows predictable beats — adults don't believe the warning child, danger escalates, climax forces a reckoning — without meaningful subversion. Macaulay Culkin's casting against type as the sociopathic Henry is the film's standout element, and his performance alongside Elijah Wood is genuinely engaging, elevating what would otherwise be a pedestrian script. Cinematography is serviceable with some atmospheric use of the wintry New England setting but nothing remarkable. Novelty is low: the psychopathic-child subgenre (The Bad Seed, Problem Child, etc.) was already established, and the film adds little conceptually. The ending, with the mother's agonizing choice, provides real dramatic tension and a memorably dark payoff that lifts the film above its middling construction.