in brief : i think your response to the good son will depend on your response to the question of evil . i found the film excellent--and disturbing . i was uncomfortable throughout . it focuses on one thing--evil--and tries to look at it on its own terms , barring any easy ways out . most of our profs would have said that evil is * really * ignorance , or bad reasoning , or blindness , or unchecked emotionalism , or the result of a bad environment , a terrible childhood , some traumatic event , etc . , etc . , etc . if you think that , then the good son might be a nice little thriller for you , but maybe a little too low-key , too bland . if , further , you think that it's preposterous that a * kid * could really be * evil * , then the film will be still harder to take . but what if evil is a real moral stance , a live threat in human affairs ? what if it is , or can be , a * decision * ? what if it's something that can never be completely removed by education or compassion or prosperity , etc . , etc . , etc . ? ( which is what some of our old-line thomist and calvinist profs warned us . ) to the extent you think that--or at least can enter into the mindset--then the good son will be a disturbing analysis of evil . even if it shows its origin in the genre of the thriller , its main action will be a confrontation with genuine evil in an apparently cheerful , appealing kid . 
