The Good Son (film) (Alternity)

The Good Son is a 1993 American psychological thriller/horror film. Set largely in the coastal town of Rock Harbor, Maine in early December 1993, it follows a twelve year-old boy who has lost his mother to cancer, and is sent to stay with his cousins while his father goes overseas on business. The boy soon discovers that his oldest cousin is a sociopath with a love of deadly games, hiding under a mask of innocence, and sets out to stop him from committing murder.

Cast

 * Macaulay Culkin as Henry Evans
 * Elijah Wood as Mark Evans
 * Mary Steenburgen as Susan Evans
 * David Morse as Jack Evans
 * Daniel Hugh Kelly as Wallace Evans
 * Jacqueline Brookes as Alice Davenport
 * Jamie Renée Smith as Connie Evans

Development
The film began as a screenplay written by Ian McEwan for 20th Century FOX in 1986, but ended up 'floating' around the major film studios for a nearly a year before anyone took serious notice. That someone was independent producer Mary Anne Page, (an admirer of McEwan's work) who took an instant liking to the script, and tried for over three years to get it into production, without success. However, following the enormous success of Home Alone, FOX reconsidered the idea of the film, and following the big Orion Pictures' thriller The Silence of the Lambs, they realized that a radical new type of thriller was possible. With that, FOX gave the go-ahead, and attached director Michael Lehmann from the beginning, along with Page, co-producer Laurence Mark, and McEwan for further adaption and revision of the screenplay.

Reception
The film was generally well-received by critics and moviegoers alike, and currently holds a rating of 78/100 (Decent/Good) on WebCritic, based on 150 reviews written in the interim since late 1993. Total revenue from US and international theaters grossed nearly $227 million in total. DVD and blu-disc sales have since added another $157 million to that total.

Novels
Main Article: The Good Son novels

One year following the film, Ben Corrin released the first literary sequel, entitled The Good Son: No Fair. The first follow-up, Imperfect One, was released in 1996, while the third, Time to Live, is set to be released in early 1998. Last on Mars author Elijah Lane has conceived a second series - entitled Another Way, though Lane believes it will be several years before it will be published. Corrin and Lane have collaborated to write a 'novel of opposites', Spin 180, in which Mark and Henry's roles are reversed. It was published earlier this year.

Television
Main Article: The Good Son TV series