The Good Son is a 1993 American psychological thriller film directed by Joseph Ruben, produced and released by 20th Century Fox.

Its story follows a 12-year-old boy named Mark who, after the death of his mother, is sent to stay with his aunt and uncle while his father is away on a business trip.

It stars Macaulay Culkin, Elijah Wood, Wendy Crewson, David Morse, Daniel Hugh Kelly, and Jacqueline Brookes.

Before leaving on a business trip to Tokyo, Mark's father, Jack, transports him from Arizona to his Uncle Wallace and Aunt Susan's house in Maine, where he will stay during winter break.

Susan manages to climb back up just in time to grab hold of the boys as they roll over the edge, one in each hand.

Following the completion of his novel The Child in Time, English novelist Ian McEwan was invited by 20th Century Fox to write a screenplay "about evil – possibly concerning children.

Despite being well received, the end result was deemed insufficiently commercial by the parties that commissioned it and it floated around Hollywood until being discovered by independent producer Mary Ann Page.

[4] Following the successes of Home Alone and The Silence of the Lambs, which demonstrated the box-office appeal of a movie about kids and of an "extreme thriller" respectively, Fox itself chose to revisit the project, which they now saw as viable.

Director Michael Lehmann (Heathers) became attached, Laurence Mark was appointed as a co-producer and McEwan was called in for rewrites.

Mary Steenburgen was cast as Susan and Jesse Bradford had replaced Klesic as Henry because he had grown too old to play the part.

[4][5] McEwan was optimistic about the project and by November 1991, sets were being built in Maine for a production that would cost approximately $12 million.

[2][5] As the movie was originally scheduled to shoot at the same time as Home Alone 2, the start date for The Good Son was pushed back for a year, making Steenburgen no longer available and having her replaced by Wendy Crewson but also enabling Elijah Wood's involvement.

The demanding Culkin would go on to insist that Macaulay's sister, Quinn, receive a role in the film and vetted replacement director Joseph Ruben (Sleeping with the Enemy).

The book also concludes differently from the movie, ending with Mark returning to Uncle Wallace's home in Maine one year later.

[12] Roger Ebert, who deemed the film inappropriate for children, awarded it half a star, calling the project a "creepy, unpleasant experience".

[15][16] Hal Hinson of The Washington Post stated that "the mere presence of the adorable boy star... seems to throw the whole film out of whack, making the picture play more like an inadvertent comedy than a thriller.

"[17] Janet Maslin in The New York Times wrote that the end sequence at the cliff "is one of its few suspenseful and original moments" and "is quite literally gripping.