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| “ | No fair? What do you think this is, a game? | „ |
| ~ Henry's most famous quote. |
| “ | If I let you go, do you think you could fly? | „ |
| ~ Henry asking Mark directly if he could fly if he dropped him. |
| “ | Hey, Mark. Don't f**k with me. | „ |
| ~ Henry threatening Mark |
Henry Evans is the main antagonist of the 1993 psychological thriller drama film The Good Son. He was the arrogant and psychopathic archenemy of his cousin Mark Evans.
He was portrayed by Macaulay Culkin in his first villainous role, who also voiced Cattrick Lyxnley in the upcoming Disney movie Zootopia 2.
Biography
Since Mark's father must go on a business trip to Tokyo, he leaves his son with his uncle Wallace and aunt Susan. Soon, Mark and his cousin Henry, who seems like a good friend and a nice boy at first, meet up. However, Henry's true nature starts to show up after some of his behavior is revealed, starting out when he smoked and pressured Mark into doing it telling him that ("he's gonna die anyway") and then expressed interest in death, asking how Mark's mother looked like when she died.
Mark felt uncomfortable with Henry's behavior and threatened to hit him if he talked about his mother again. Henry replied that if he did, he would throw Mark into a well. Henry becomes jealous when he sees Susan hugging Mark. Henry later took a home-made crossbow and revealed great aiming skills with it, hitting a tree that a cat was sitting next to. Henry then shot and killed a dog that had chased the two earlier, much to Mark's shock and horror, and he later caused a massive pile-up using a hand-made dummy named Mr. Highway.
Henry also implies that he probably killed his own brother before the movie's events. A horrified Mark tries many times to warn his uncle and aunt about Henry's sick-minded behavior, but they will not listen to him. Henry confronts Mark in their room when Connie shows up as well. Henry is displeased that Connie is in his room and makes it clear about it but is pushed away by Mark, who pins him to a wall. Henry implies that he is going to kill her just before Susan breaks the two up.
Susan and Wallace leave, and Mark becomes worried that Henry will attack Connie and finds her safe. After reading her a story to make her go to sleep, Mark leaves the room and Henry reveals himself in the dark, and once again hints he will kill Connie. The next morning, Mark wakes up and finds out Henry took Connie skating and leaves the house to find them. By the time he gets there, Henry tosses Connie onto thin ice and that she breaks through, almost drowning. Several adults rescue her, and Connie is hospitalized. Mark once again tries to warn his uncle and aunt, but they still refuse to listen.
Mark later sees Henry talking to the therapist, Dr. Davenport, telling her about Mark's "strange behavior" successfully manipulating her. Mark confronts Henry on their treehouse, where Henry becomes even more jealous of Mark when he says that Susan is his mother now. Later, that night, Mark wakes up and goes to the refrigerator at the middle of the night to get a snack and Henry confronts him and tells him to get whatever he wants, and Mark asks what he did to the food. Henry jokingly asks Mark if would he do something like that, hinting that he poisoned the food. Henry later alerts his parents about Mark disposing the food in the garbage disposal and Susan and Wallace stop him and send him to bed.
Susan finds the rubber duck that was with Richard when he died in Henry's room and asks him about it. Henry lies and says he took it because "he wanted something to remember Richard by", and he asks for it back. However, Susan refuses, so Henry takes it away by force and runs off to the cemetery and drops it down the well. Later on, Henry and Mark meet up in their room, and Henry hints he will kill Susan. Mark grabs a pair of scissors and pins Henry and threatens to jab the scissors into his throat. Henry pressures Mark into doing it when Wallace sees this and locks Mark in a room until Dr. Davenport arrives.
Henry tricks his mother, Susan, into taking a walk in the woods with him, where she finally asks if he killed his baby brother since she earlier found one of his long-lost toys in Henry's possession, to which he replies, "What if I did?", shocking his mother and making her see the true person he is. Refusing to be sent somewhere where he would be given special treatment for his behavior, Henry tricks Susan into following him to a cliff and pushes her off, but Susan hangs herself to a branch below.
Henry tries to drop a large rock on Susan to finish her off, but Mark immediately comes to her rescue and battles Henry. As they wrestle, Henry and Mark almost fall down the cliff, but Susan having just reached the top, hangs onto them both and tries to save them both. However, Susan soon realizes that she can only save one of them. Remembering that Henry tried to kill her and would likely try again, Susan knows he is too dangerous to be left alive and beyond saving, and reluctantly releases him despite his desperate pleas that he loves her, leaving him screaming and falling to his death onto the rocks below. With Henry's death, the deaths of his brother Richard and the dog he murdered with his crossbow were avenged. Susan pulls Mark up from the cliff and they look down upon Henry's corpse on the rocks below before it is washed away into the sea and they both share an emotional embrace.
Personality
Henry was an extremely ruthless, dishonest, cruel, uncaring, disrespectful, callous, irredeemable, inconsiderate, sneaky, rude, manipulative, heartless, sadistic, unsympathetic, murderous, evil, arrogant, selfish, narcissistic, and ungrateful kid who never appreciated the well-being of others. He found the idea of death to be rather enthralling, with the exception of his own. Not only did Henry show no remorse for his actions, but he enjoyed them immensely. For example, after murdering an aggressive dog with his homemade crossbow, rather than feeling remorse or regret for what he had done, Henry instead felt only joy and satisfaction and had a broad, wicked smile on his face whilst watching the car accident he caused get bigger. Henry has been described as a Cluster B psychopath with antisocial, narcissistic, and borderline personality disorders with sadistic features. Thus, while psychopathic and twisted, he is capable of understanding why his actions are so terrible.
It seemed that envy was what awoke the beast in Henry as he drowned his baby brother, Richard, in the bathtub purely out of jealousy for how his parents were paying more attention to him, even giving him Henry's favorite rubber duck, which Henry kept after he killed him as it was in his words, "Mine before it was his", after finding that killing Richard had been so easy for him, Henry discovered that he did not feel saddened when bad things happened to other people and then learned to live by a philosophy, "Once you realize that you can do anything, you're free. You could fly. Nobody can touch you, nobody".
Henry took surprisingly little to no care of his own health, rationalizing that smoking was fine because everyone would die one way or another. Had Henry lived to be older, he possibly would have started using other drugs and alcohol. Henry stated that he used to be afraid before realizing that doing horrible things made him happy instead of sad or had no impact on him either way. Therefore, it is possible that Henry is willing to die in order to torment others as long as it is done by his own terms.
Henry's reason for attempting to kill his little sister and mother seemed to stem from a desire to devastate Mark more than from jealousy, as he noticed how close Mark was becoming to them both and had already demonstrated that other people's suffering thrilled him. Henry had already made it clear that he disliked (and even hated) his sister, Connie, but it was odd how he chose to kill his mother instead of Mark. Henry possibly preferred her to be dead than be a mother or mother-figure to anyone else or felt that she was too close to learning the truth about Richard's death.
Henry never felt any genuine love for anyone, even for his family, and it was likely that he only wanted Richard out of the way so he would get all the attention from his parents. Henry was quite spoiled and seemed to be favored by his father slightly over his sister Connie. Henry's mother ensured to show affection to him and spoil him, possibly due to him being her only surviving son following Richard's death. It is unclear if his sister, Connie, came before or after Richard, but needless to say, Henry was horrible to Connie. Aside from trying to kill her, he would psychologically and physically torture Connie on many occasions and addressed her as "vermin" at one point.
Henry was also surprisingly calculating for his young age as he was able to make the murder of Richard and the attempted murder of Connie seem like an accident. Henry also stretched out his hand towards Connie to make it seem like he was trying to save her, though considering his sadistic personality, Henry may have also tantalized Connie by keeping his hand right out of her reach.
Had Henry gotten away with killing his mother, Henry could have lied about it, having been there when it happened and it would have been surmised that she had either fallen or committed suicide due to her heartbreak over Richard's death, the latter of which is something everyone knew she felt guilty for. Henry also convinced everyone that Mark's grievance over his mother was driving him to insanity, keeping all suspicion off himself, and was even willing to blame him for the traffic collision that he caused.
At first, Henry's psychopathic nature had simply been due to jealousy, but since then it had developed to the point that another person's life having value was a fact that Henry simply ignored. The shine he took to Mark at first was possible because Henry saw Mark as a potential pawn rather than a friend, as he viewed everyone he knew as disposable if they no longer satisfied his needs or posed a threat to his freedom (which was what he valued above everything else).
What was really disturbing about Henry was that he understood the difference between right and wrong, and knew perfectly well that what he was doing was bad, but did not care. If Henry wanted to do something and if it was within his reach to do it, he would - without caring at all about how it affected other people or, as mentioned above, if he endangered his life in the process.
Despite Henry's interest in death and enjoyment for causing it to others, he valued his own life and was afraid of dying himself; as far as Henry was concerned, it was fine for everyone except himself to die or be in pain (or at least, refusing to let others kill him unless he wants to). Henry briefly tried to convince Mark to follow in his footsteps and give up all traces of empathy so his life would be better, possibly implying that Henry thought everyone should be like him. Henry also had a ridiculously excessive sense of self-worth, as he felt that he was entitled to everything he wanted just because he wanted it, with no rational reasoning.
Henry's greatest weakness was his inability to understand love; this was evident by the fact that he still thought his mother would always love him unconditionally, even after Henry had subtly admitted to killing Richard and then tried to kill his mother despite her wanting to get Henry help upon finding out his true nature. Henry also asked Mark if a person is expected to cry at their mother's funeral, apparently only guessing that it was something that most people would do.
Quotes
| “ | I took a real good look when my little brother Richard drowned in the bathtub. He was completely blue. | „ |
| ~ Henry explaining to Mark why he killed Richard |
| “ | Henry: We're here. Here, help me rest him up here.[Mark helps Henry put the dummy "Mr. Highway" over the top of the freeway overpass.] Come on, take a look. (turns to Mark) Poor Mr. Highway. He's thinking about the end. He's had enough of this terrible life. Mark: What? Henry: Say goodbye! [Henry drops Mr. Highway off of the ramp and onto the road causing multiple cars to lose control and crash] Mark: No! [Henry smiles sadistically at the pileup he caused while Mark looks down in horror] |
„ |
| ~ Henry causing a pileup on a highway |
| “ | I feel sorry for you, you just don't know how to have fun. It's because you're scared all the time, I know, I used to be scared too, but that was before I found out. that once you realize you can do anything, you're free. You could fly. Nobody can touch you. don't be afraid to fly. | „ |
| ~ Henry explaining how he got through his fear that he can be free |
| “ | You like my sister don't you? It'd be too bad if something were to happen to her like she got hurt, but hey, accidents can happen. | „ |
| ~ Henry implying to his cousin Mark that he's going to kill his little sister Connie |
| “ | Henry: You sure missed an interesting session! I like therapy and that's strictly confidential, but you better stop telling lies about me because no one's gonna believe you. Mark: Sooner or later, they're gonna find out about you! Henry: Who's they? Mark: I told your mom. Henry: Why would she believe you? She's my mom, not yours. Mark: You know you're wrong! She's my mother, she'd always be with me, she tells your mom there's a way of coming back, but I guess you wouldn't understand that, but it's true. She's my mother now! [Mark starts to head down out of the treehouse] Henry: Hey! Don't f**k with me. [Mark continues to slide down while Henry watches him] |
„ |
| ~ Mark accepting that Susan is his mother now and Henry threatening Mark not to mess with him |
| “ | Henry: Looking for a midnight snack? Mark: What did you do? Henry: Oh i get it, you think I put something in my family's food. You think I'd do a thing like that? |
„ |
| ~ Henry to Mark before he goes through the refrigerator and dumps all the food in the garbage disposal thinking Henry poisoned the food |
| “ | Henry: What are you doing? Susan: I was just looking around. If something were wrong, you would tell me wouldn't you? Sometimes when we're kids we do things that we feel bad about. Henry: I don't feel bad about anything. Susan: Look what I've found! Henry: Where did you get that? Susan: I couldn't find it after Richard's accident, but you knew I was looking for it. How did you get it? Henry: I took it because I wanted something to remember Richard by, that's all. So can I have it back please? Susan: You can't. Henry: But it's mine. Susan: Henry? Henry: GIVE IT TO ME!! |
„ |
| ~ Henry realizing Susan was getting suspicious about his behavior and forcibly takes the rubber duck from her and runs away to the graveyard and drops it in the well |
| “ | Henry: Missing someone? Did you cry at your mom's funeral? I figured you did, but I don't know, oh wait, I just remembered, she's not my mom anymore. She's yours. Isn't that what you said? She's your mother now, your mom, my mom, what the hell? We'll both miss her. Poor Mark, so violent and disturbed. If you don't watch out, they're gonna lock you up. [Henry throws the airplane toy and Mark quickly grabs a pair of scissors and restrains Henry to the bed and puts the scissors to his throat] Mark: I'll kill you now. Henry: Go ahead, jam it in. Gotta push pretty hard though, and the blood will go right across the room. [Wallace comes in the room] Wallace: Have you seen your- Mark! (runs over and grabs Mark) What the hell do you think you are doing!? Henry: Don't be mad at him, he's not really himself! [Wallace takes Mark out of the room] Wallace: This is serious, you could've hurt him! Mark: He's the one who hurts people! Henry: I'm sorry you don't want to be friends! |
„ |
| ~ Henry planning to kill Susan in front of Mark |
| “ | Susan: What happened the night Richard died? Henry: I was downsta- Susan: Don't lie to me? Now tell me the truth. Did you kill Richard? Henry: What if I did? |
„ |
| ~ Henry revealing his true nature to Susan after he killed Richard |
| “ | Susan: Well, um... We'll get you help. Henry: You don't look too good. Looks like you need the help. Susan: You have to trust me. Henry: I can't. You just wanna send me away and put me in one of those places. I'd much rather die, you hear me? I'd much rather be dead! |
„ |
| ~ Henry runs off and Susan chases after Henry and he tries to run off and "commit suicide" so he won't be taken to a mental institution |
| “ | Looking for me? You thought I was gonna jump huh? I guess you don't know me very well. [Henry runs up to his mom and shoves her off the cliff trying to kill her and Mark suddenly appears just in time to stop Henry from killing Susan and tackles Henry making him drop the rock, almost hitting Susan] | „ |
| ~ Henry tricking Susan that he jumped over the cliff and attempts to kill her by shoving her off the cliff and dropping a rock on her but was stopped by Mark |
| “ | I'm gonna kill you! | „ |
| ~ Henry's villainous breakdown as he fights Mark |
| “ | Mom, I love you! I need your other hand! | „ |
| ~ Henry fibbing that he loves Susan in order to be saved from falling to his death |
| “ | Mom, help me![Susan drops Henry as he screams while falling to his death while she helps up Mark] | „ |
| ~ Henry's last words before his death |
Trivia
- Henry's siblings, Connie and Richard, were played by Macaulay Culkin's real-life siblings, Quinn and Rory.
- Henry Evans was Macaulay Culkin's first role as an antagonist, whereas he mostly played protagonists, such as Kevin McCallister in Home Alone and Home Alone 2. Indeed, many film critics criticized Macaulay Culkin's casting as Henry Evans due to his comedic image in the Home Alone films.
- In spite of the backlash, Macaulay Culkin claimed that he enjoyed doing the role.
- Once Henry begins to show signs of his evil behavior, Henry starts wearing two different colored shoes: a black one and a white one.
- Henry was never seen murdering people on-screen, but he did attempt to kill his sister Connie, and his mother, Susan, although he did murder a dog on-screen.
- Despite Macaulay Culkin and Elijah Wood's (who played Mark) characters on-screen rivalry, they became very close friends during filming and have remained so.
- Macaulay Culkin was cast as Henry Evans because his father/manager, Kit, thought he was perfect for the role. To ensure that his son could play the part, Kit threatened to pull Macaulay Culkin out from Home Alone 2 unless 20th Century Fox agreed to cast him as Henry, a request the studio granted, because Macaulay Culkin had become such a bankable star for them.
- Henry's twisted philosophy of letting go of one's own morals and empathy to no longer feel afraid and learn to "fly" proved to be hypocritical since he immediately becomes fearful of his mother, Susan, after subtly admitting that he had killed Richard and then tried to escape, not wanting to be sent to prison or a mental asylum. Henry shows his cowardice again by trying to gain his mother, Susan's, trust to let Mark fall so he could successfully kill her.
- Henry's actions and way of thinking over the course of the film ultimately led to his downfall. When his mother, Susan, chose to save Mark over him, which is symbolically ironic to his philosophy of "flying", since Henry would end up falling to his death while screaming for his life. This also meant Henry's philosophy foreshadowed how he would eventually die.
- Another hypocritical thing about Henry's philosophy is that given by its high risk, only a brave individual would dare to stomach the risk to practice it. Despite creating it and practicing it, Henry is shown to be the exact opposite of an individual suitable to practice it: A complete coward who's afraid of death and will plead for mercy once he realizes his life is at stake.
- The film's title is ironic because it refers to Henry's cousin Mark as the "good son", whereas Henry in reality was deceitful, arrogant, and sadistic as he was only using his good-hearted nature as a facade since Henry is very much anything but good, serving as an antithesis and a corrupting influence to Mark, the true good son.
- Henry's preferred method of killing seems to involve drowning or water, which was how he had killed Richard and attempted to kill Connie at the ice skating pond. Henry also attempted to drop his mother, Susan, off a cliff which was located near the ocean. Henry also seems to enjoy suffocation, as he attempted to smother Connie when she had survived his killing attempt.
- Given Henry's remorseless and irredeemable nature, it is likely that had his mom saved him instead of Mark, Henry would not learn anything and would continue to murder innocent people to satisfy his bloodlust and sadism. This would have also lead to Mark dying instead of him, so his death is ultimately his final fate.
External links
- Henry Evans on the Pure Evil Wiki