The Good Son

After his mother dies, Mark is left with relatives in Maine for the winter while his father travels for work. His cousin Henry, the same age, welcomes him. Then Henry's acts start to accumulate: animals, an object thrown onto a motorway, a plan involving his little sister. Mark tries to tell someone and nobody believes him. Joseph Ruben directed. The novelist Ian McEwan wrote the screenplay. Macaulay Culkin plays Henry and Elijah Wood plays Mark. There is a story of pressure behind the casting. Culkin's father made his son's appearance in Home Alone 2 conditional on his getting this role, which visibly shaped the production's direction and budget. On a budget between 17 and 28 million dollars it took 60.6 million worldwide, with 12.5 million in its opening weekend. The reviews were poor. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 25 percent and Roger Ebert gave it half a star. Most critics located the problem in the same place: Culkin's comic image from Home Alone empties out the villain. One review said the casting throws the whole film out of whack. The UK release was delayed over perceived similarities to the James Bulger murder in 1993. It was given an 18 certificate and released in 1995 with a car crash scene cut. Who it is for: viewers curious about child-killer thrillers and nineties genre films. Who it is not for: anyone who knows Culkin from his other roles. That is exactly the film's most criticised weakness, and you feel it while watching.