History Film / TheGoodSon

* BlatantLies: While dangling from the cliff, Henry tries to get his mom to save him by saying "Mom, I love you"...right after he had tried to kill her by knocking her off the cliff.

* GreenEyedMonster: Henry's FatalFlaw. He killed his younger brother, Richard because he was given more attention than him and wanted Mark and Connie out of the way so he could be the favorite, all out of pure jealousy.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Henry. He shows no consideration for anyone and is willing to murder to get what he wants, like [[spoiler:murdering his baby brother over a toy,]] and trying to murder Mark and Connie because he was afraid they would be noticed more.

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: In the climax, Henry tries to kill his mother by shoving her off a cliff. He's the one who ends up falling from it - by ''her'' hand.]]

** Really, all the signs are there but not one adult sees how off Henry is. When Mark points this out, ''he'' is labeled the crazy one. Even a child psychiatrist refuses to believe that Henry is evil, and the latter actually manipulates her successfully. [[note]]Unfortunately, this happens with [[https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/06/when-your-child-is-a-psychopath/524502/ frightening regularity]] in the [[RealityIsUnrealistic real world]].[[/folder]]

* {{Deconstruction}}: Henry can be viewed as a deconstruction of Macaulay Culkin's most famous role, [[Film/HomeAlone Kevin McCallister]]- A WiseBeyondTheirYears kid that can outsmart and manipulate grown adults, creates homemade contraptions, and derives enjoyment from hurting people. With Kevin it's played for comedy and his victims are criminals, but with Henry it's played without the comedy and to its logical conclusion: Such a kid would realistically be a sociopath, it wouldn't take much for that kid to graduate to murder, and he would target anyone for any reason (perceived slights, jealousy, for fun, etc.).

** Really, all the signs are there but not one adult sees how off Henry is. When Mark points this out, ''he'' is labeled the crazy one. Even a child psychiatrist refuses to believe that Henry is evil, and the latter actually manipulates her successfully.
*** Unfortunately, this happens with [[https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/06/when-your-child-is-a-psychopath/524502/ frightening regularity]] in the [[RealityIsUnrealistic real world]].
** Mark's father leaving him with relatives so he can go on a business trip. ''Immediately after his son's mother died.'' Even worse, Mark's father doesn't seem to take Mark's report about Henry's cruel nature seriously because we never see him return from his business trip after this. That said, it's established that if this trip works, he'll make so much money that he'll ''never'' have to leave his son alone again; he really doesn't ''want'' to take the trip, but his brother talks him into it on those grounds.

* TooDumbToLive: Again, the adults who can't seem to wrap their heads around just how genuinely screwed up Henry is. This includes a ''child psychologist'', by the way.
** Unfortunately a case of TruthInTelevision; The film was made in 1993, and it took ''20 years'' to get any form of diagnosis for a child psychopath added to the DSM. Children like Henry in the real world [[https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/06/when-your-child-is-a-psychopath/524502/ fool adults and professionals with alarming regularity]].

* VillainsWantMercy: Exploited and justified. As he and Mark are held by Susan at the edge of a precipice, Henry realizes she can only save one kid and tries to sway his mother to save him repeatedly saying [[BlatantLies "Mom, Mom, I love you"]] in order to overwhelm her with guilt. Predictably, it doesn't take--to save Mark, Susan lets the evil little brat tumble and smash on the rocks below, with him screaming all the way as a final middle finger to her; almost as if to say "I may not have to live with you killing one of your own kids, but you will, and there's nothing you can do about it."

* VillainsWantMercy: Exploited and justified. As he and Mark are held by Susan at the edge of a precipice, Henry realizes she can only save one kid and tries to sway his mother to save him repeatedly saying [[BlatantLies "Mom, Mom, I love you"]] in order to overwhelm her with guilt. It doesn't take--to save Mark, Susan lets the evil little brat tumble and smash on the rocks below, screaming all the way as a final middle finger to her as if to say "I may not have to live with you killing one of your own kids, but you will, and there's nothing you can do about it."

* VillainsWantMercy: As he and Mark are held by Susan at the edge of a precipice, Henry realizes she can only save one kid and pathetically tries to sway his mother to save him repeatedly saying [[BlatantLies "Mom, Mom, I love you"]]. It doesn't take--to save Mark, Susan lets the evil little brat tumble and smash on the rocks below, screaming all the way.

* DirtyCoward: Henry attempts to manipulate Susan into helping him up from the cliff instead of Mark despite trying to kill her a minute earlier. It doesn't work one bit.

* OutlivingOnesOffspring: Susan is definitely this as she goes through the incidents that happened to her offspring, her youngest son being drowned in a bathtub and her daughter almost drowning in cold water at the ice rink and being sent to the hospital.

* BigBrotherBully: Even before he tries to kill his sister, Henry is rude towards Connie. He even held her hand on the ice rink [[ManipulativeBastard just so that killing her would be easier]], and it's not like Connie was expecting that anyway. [[spoiler: That’s not even to mention him [[SiblingMurder killing]] his '''baby''' brother, Richard, in cold blood]].

* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Mark tackles Henry when he tries to throw a big rock on his own mother, Susan, while she dangles off the edge of a cliff]].

* BigBrotherBully: Even before he tries to kill his sister, Henry is rude towards Connie. He even held her hand on the ice rink [[ManipulativeBastard just so that killing her would be easier]], and it's not like Connie was expecting that anyway. [[spoiler: That’s not even to mention him [[SiblingMurder killing]] his '''baby''' brother, Richard, in cold blood.]]

* BigBrotherBully: Even before he tries to kill his sister, Henry is rude towards Connie. He even held her hand on the ice rink [[ManipulativeBastard just so that killing her would be easier]], and it's not like Connie was expecting that anyway. That’s not even to mention him [[SiblingMurder killing]] his '''baby''' brother, Richard, in cold blood.

* VillainsWantMercy: As he and Mark are held by Susan at the edge of a precipice, Henry realizes she can only save one kid and pathetically tries to sway his mother to save him repeatedly saying [[BlatantLies "Mom, Mom, I love you"]]. This is shortly after Henry just tried to kill her by pushing her off the cliff.

* BigBrotherBully: Even before he tries to kill his sister, Henry is rude towards Connie. He even held her hand on the ice rink [[ManipulativeBastard just so that killing her would be easier]], and it's not like Connie was expecting that anyway. That’s not even to mention him [[SiblingMurder killing]] his '''baby''' brother, Richard.

* BigBrotherBully: Even before he tries to kill his sister, Henry is rude towards Connie. He even held her hand on the ice rink [[ManipulativeBastard just so that killing her would be easier]], and it's not like Connie was expecting that anyway.

* InfantSiblingJealousy: Henry felt this toward his baby brother Richard in the past, [[spoiler:with deadly consequences.]]

* ScaryFlashlightFace: Yes, Henry does this too at one point.

* AntagonisticOffspring: Henry Evans, a sociopathic kid who causes mayhem between others and his family members and outright tries to kill his own mother in the end.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Henry is dead and Susan and Mark both survive the experience, but Mark is left wondering what would happen if Susan had to make the choice again. And there's the obvious mental scarring. The ending basically leaves you with the implication that there will be many hard years ahead, particularly for Susan. It's also implied that Connie died too.]]

* AxCrazy: Henry. He killed his younger brother because [[EvilIsPetty he had been playing with]] [[DisproportionateRetribution one of Henry’s toys]]. He causes traffic accidents on the highway, shoots a dog with a nail gun and tries to kill his sister all ForTheEvulz and finally tries to kill his family after they try to send him to a mental institution.

* BeyondRedemption: [[spoiler:The murder-suicide attempt by Henry on himself and Mark is what finally makes Susan realize that her son is a lost cause.]]

* XanatosGambit: Henry manages to convince all the adults that Mark is unstable and violent. He has him boxed in to such a degree that no matter what Mark does, the adults see Mark as the psychopath and Henry as the innocent victim.

It is about Henry Evans (Culkin), a psychopathic boy terrorizing his cousin, Mark (Elijah Wood). Mark tries incredibly hard to convince his family that Henry is psychotic and evil, [[ObviouslyEvil a fact that should be noticed even if you're three miles away]]. Mark continually tries to stop Henry from getting worse, only to have Henry make ''him'' look worse at every turn...

* OutlivingOnesOffspring: Susan is definitely this as she goes through the incidents that happened to her offsprings, her youngest son being drowned in a bathtub and her daughter almost drowning in cold water at the ice rink and being sent to the hospital.

* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Henry treats Connie as this. However, it is because he wants to kill her. Connie is actually very nice and friendly to other people, such as Mark.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Henry is dead and Susan and Mark both survive the experience, but Mark is left wondering what would happen if Susan had to make the choice again. And there's the obvious mental scarring. The ending basically leaves you with the implication that there will be many hard years ahead, particularly for Susan.]]

* AdultFear: Susan is definitely this as she goes through the incidents that happened to her offsprings, her youngest son being drowned in a bathtub and her daughter almost drowning in cold water at the ice rink and being sent to the hospital. When she soon realizes that Henry was responsible for both of those incidents, she decided to get him help, and when that didn't work, she really goes through the tough decision of which boy to save, either Mark or Henry, and she ultimately chooses Mark, still, it's really tough realizing your own son is a flat-out sociopath.

* HateSink: Henry tries to kill his own family and never shows any remorse over his actions, making him basically a textbook example of this trope.