One thing I didn't understand (I was 7 when I last watched this movie, I need to rewatch it) however I didn't understand why he did what he did...
can someone explain? and please don't write something like "he's just evil' XD there had to be SOMETHING else...right?
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Hate to tell you but I think the point of the movie is that there was no(at least environmental)reason that he was the way he was. The movie The Bad Seed had a little girl who was like him and it was because of heredity. The idea that someone can inherit sociopathy if someone in the family is also a sociopath. So maybe Henry was born evil but it was because it was in his genes. He obviously was loved and looked like he was spoiled. There was no outside reason for him to be mean.
The scary clown doll is hiding under my bed.
The other poster was quite right. Henry was this way because he was just evil. To put it another way, he was born without the capacity to feel the emotions that make someone a decent human being such as empathy, love and guilt. He was a sociopath in psychological terms. It's the old 'nature versus nurture debate' where the argument is whether people like Henry are raised to be this way or whether they are born this way. In this film, it seems Henry was born this way because he certainly seemed to come from a loving family.
"I always pretend to root for Gryffindors but, secretly, I love my Slytherin boys."~ Karen, W&G
Truth is, there are plenty of people who turn out either rotten or amazing regardless of how they were raised; nature is ultimately more powerful. Look at Tyler Perry, who was abused. Look at Scott Peterson, who was spoiled rotten and became absolutely heartless.
shareActually a lot of times people that come from a bad background usually go through a difficult phase. However they seem to eventually get it together if things get better or they find some good human connections. I watched an interview with Tyler Perry and he indicated he went through behavior problems when he was young. I think he said at one point he tried to burn the house down even. However his life came together and he seems like he is a good individual with a conscience. I don't know about someone from a decent background who seems to lack a conscience. Since they seem to be born that way I don't know if there is as much hope for them to change.
The scary clown doll is hiding under my bed.
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Really? You think being spoiled would lead to a good person? Now everyone has their flaws but come on, situations are ALWAYS different and ALWAYS changing us into who we're going to be.
shareI personally disagree. In my opinion sociopaths are made, not born. I don't believe any person is born evil without the capacity to love and be a good person. There is good and bad in everyone. Sociopaths are not evil, they can feel emotions but only the minimal necessary ones and they only feel empathy and love for the very few that they actually care about. They are not all violent and without morals.
I do agree though that most sociopaths tend to come from dysfunctional homes and probably developed RAD as a child which progressed into sociopathy in adulthood.
I think they were trying to make him a mix of a jealous child who doesnt want to share his parents affection with siblings and a typical serial killer and not all serial killers come from bad homes so its kinda open to the viewer's imagination
Sociopaths do NOT feel empathy for other people. At all. There are no "few people" that they care about because they are mentally incapable of feeling empathy.
People are born with mental illnesses, and not being able to empathize with people is part of a mental illness. Sociopathy. Why is that so hard for people to believe?
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Sam, you may be confusing sociopaths with psychopaths. I'm not totally sure of them myself.
shareSamuraibro is actually correct in a psychological sense... I'm studying to become a psychologist in school and although you are partially correct that environment and experience are important in determining our psychology... it's also true that biology plays a role as well. In scientific terms the word evil isn't often used but the idea that some people are born incapable of feeling emotions is true. A variety of things are believed to possibly contribute to this but the two most common biological aspects are genetics passed down from parent to child or genetic mutations or deficiencies. Although in this movie it is possible that you are correct in assuming that there is some explanation and the writers simply didn't mention it, but it is also possible that there really isn't one either. Some people really are just what some may call "evil" but in most cases we use words like emotionally irrational or a sociopath.
shareHenry was not a sociopath he was a psychopath. A sociopaths are made while psycopaths are born without empathy, love or any emotions like fear. Sociopatths can feel empathy, but that is usually directed at babies and animals.
share..Not sure where you got that, Ird. I've never heard before of socios preferring animals and babies OR being created.
sharethe scene in the shed with Henry and his mother where she finds the 'rubber duckie' - Henry says : "It was mine before it was his" shows that he's deeply jealous of his baby brother; and could be the 'inspiration' or motivation for his psychotic actions.
shareOhh I see now, okay that makes sense. Thank you
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I doubt Henry had any real reason to be jealous of his little brother. By that I mean I doubt that his parents made him feel he was less special than his brother. I think because he was just mean he didn't like the idea of his brother taking any attention away from him. He wanted it all for himself. He did not really care about the rubber duck he just wanted to keep it away from her because it reminded him of his mom's love for Richard. He did not want her to have it because he knew the connection she would make with it(that she would think of Richard and how much she loved him). He felt the same jealousy about his sister and wanted her out of the way especially when Mark came around. Who knows why he had not already killed his sister a long time ago. Its hard to accept but basically Henry was a little bastard in this movie for no other reason than HE WAS JUST THAT WAY. In the novel of this there is a good scene where Susan is talking to the therapist. She was wondering and asking about the possibility of a child being born with something missing. What she means by this is missing a conscience. Also in the novel(because they can get into people's heads) Mark is wondering to himself about why Henry is the way he is. It was something like "Henry was lucky he had two parents that were alive and loved him. He should be grateful" Obviously in reality there are not many people like Henry(mean for no reason).
The scary clown doll is hiding under my bed.
I know the the OP said don't write he's just evil but I think that is the answer. No concience, brazen, no empathy, it's like he's a kid version of the terminator. He enjoy's people suffering, creating misery, bedeviling people, and being deplorable.
shareIf you can stand seeing a black and white movie from the 1950's I would recommend finding one called The Bad Seed. The movie does not show her committing the murders on screen(unfortunately) but the girl in the movie is the female version of Henry. The idea behind it is that she lives in a nice family with all kinds of advantages but she is still a sociopath. In her case the inborn sociopathy is thought to be inherited. Maybe in Henry's case too he could have had some relative that was a psycho. Clearly his parents were not. Anyway I would check out The Bad Seed. However parts are slow but you can always skim forward to the good stuff.
The scary clown doll is hiding under my bed.
I remembered something about this movie when it was on HBO. You know how when they are announcing a movie coming on in the next half hour or so they kind of give a description or tagline? I remember for The Good Son it was something like "you love and cook for him and he is still a sociopath". Thats probably not exactly what was said but similar. Anyway its kind of summing up that he is like a bad seed. Internally bad.
The scary clown doll is hiding under my bed.
Henry thinks in mind that he having fun and if you take notice he is smilling when commits an acts. Mr Caulkin the two young actors worked lot together on making. They made up there own stunts.Good job guys.
TREEBARD
Henry is like a darker version of Kevin from Home Alone. While Kevin can pull off some good pranks he has no real evil intent. Henry is out to do intentional harm with his pranks. The only innoccent prank in The Good Son was when he leaned over the bannister with the mask on. But in the movie even that looks sinister because we know what Henry is really like.
The scary clown doll is hiding under my bed.
I was waiting for a Home Alone connection...
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He was a psychopath, without a conscience. He was born that way. No one knows how this can happen. Sometimes they live many years without anyone knowing, because they learn how to fit into society, and still get their way. They manipulate people to get what they want. They don't always kill someone. There has to be an extreme reason for murder.
Look psychopath up in Wikipedia to learn about the malady.
who wrote the novel was it also called the good son
Yep it was called The Good Son but I don't remember the author since it was a long time since I read it. Not sure if its available anywhere. You could try amazon.com
The scary clown doll is hiding under my bed.
that's stupid. i think henry was jealous of his baby brother. his mother gave all his old toys to richard, and henry had nothing left to himself. yes he lived in a loving home, but that doesn't mean henry didn't feel special anymore. usually new borns get all of the attention, and henry didn't know how to cope with that. he wasn't the only boy anymore, hense why he didn't kill his sister when she was a baby, and also she's a girl, so she wouldn't have gotten henry's old stuff. plus after richard died, he still got all the attention, and all the mother could think about was the baby. what i don't get is why didn't she buy richard his own stuff? not excusing henry, but why didn't she let him keep the damn duck?
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them haterz cant tell me nothin
Other than the fact that Richard had Henry's old rubber ducky there is no indication that Richard got all of Henry's old stuff and or that Richard was favored over Henry. Its never stated or shown in the movie or the novel. I got the impression that while Susan may have held on to Richard after he died I am sure she still gave the other two kids plenty of attention and love. I get the impression that Henry was just a little *beep* brat to the point that at any time someone else got attention he got jealous. He even hated to see his mom show affection to Mark when he was watching her comfort Mark on the stairs. A normal kid would not feel that much jealousy. If the movie had sub plots to give Henry reason to feel hate and jealousy(like if he really was neglected and not given enough attention) then he would not have seemed so creepy and mean in this movie.
The scary clown doll is hiding under my bed.
i thought it was well known that even if a parent shows love to all kids, a child will feel left out or abandoned when a new baby arrives. not all kids will act like henry though. and it's common sense that she would give most if not all his old baby things to henry. henry was just able to get to the duck. if the movie gave too much away, it wouldn't have been the same movie with the same feel. i like creepy henry. a movie shouldn't have to shove everything in our faces. i like movies that make you think
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them haterz cant tell me nothin
the scene in the shed with Henry and his mother where she finds the 'rubber duckie' - Henry says : "It was mine before it was his" shows that he's deeply jealous of his baby brother; and could be the 'inspiration' or motivation for his psychotic actions.
I was visiting my dad the other day, and he told me his neighbors had a problem with a kid they adopted. The kid's biological parents were a bunch of druggies and thieves, and even though the kid was adopted as an infant, he also started stealing stuff as he grew older. So I was really surprised to find out that the genes play such a huge role on a person's behavior. The same thing probably happened with the kid in this movie, he was just born evil.
shareI watched the end of the remake of The Hitcher a few days ago. And you know I could picture Henry growing up to be like that guy. The cop was asking him why he did all that stuff and he was like "well why not do it"? He was cruel and murdered just because he enjoyed it and that was how Henry was. He loved being cruel to animals and wanted his siblings out of the way(even though the parents loved all equally as far as we know) just because he didn't want to share anything with them. And even though I believe he had no true love for his mom and dad I think basically he would not have tried to kill his mom off so early were it not for the fact that she was on to him. Its not that he would have liked to keep her alive because he cared about her but she just was not on his immediate priority to get out of the way. I believe that if Mark had not come to visit Connie would have eventually been murdered soon and(assuming neither parent caught on to him) the parents much later as an adult when it came time for him to inherit the family's wealth. As a kid he still needed his parents for many functional things.
The scary clown doll is hiding under my bed.
He was a sociopath. There is no explanation for it, but what is known is it's something that you're born with.
shareExactly.
shareThe fact that there is no reason for him being evil makes him freakier.
shareExactly because it kind of means that there is no way to help him. There are children who are mean and disturbed because of abuse and traumatic events. But if they are reached young enough and get proper love and therapy they can change and be normal. On a talk show(maybe it was Oprah I don't know) there was an update of a little boy who had been on the show several years earlier. I actually don't know if the boy had been abused but he acted out angrily. Well in the update he was doing really good and I think graduated with honors or something. But with a kid like Henry how do you fix something that isn't broken. I mean how do you help a kid that has no reason to be that way. If you can't find the reason for something then it can't be helped or changed.
The scary clown doll is hiding under my bed.
soma kids r simply mean and in henry,s case evil because it makes them feel right
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I'm surprised no one has commented on this scene, either i'm being an utter dumbass for even considering this or I caught something no one else did.
In the film, Henry stated that he was once like Mark, "scared" until he realized he could do anything. It's a line that maybe means nothing or as part of manipulation by Henry, but i take it to mean something greater. Here's my theory (and this is only a theory):
Henry from a very very early age did have a psychiatric disorder, more of anxiety and in direct contrast to his current psychology was perhaps far too sensitive. He endured a trauma (lets say the death of someone he was close to him) that caused a psychotic break. Someone close to him died and his already overburdened sensitivity went into overload. Death of someone close to us is always hard but it nearly destroyed Henry. There was so much overload in his grief it destroyed a part of his soul as a way to cope. Get rid of the very thing that is killing you inside and you can live sorta thing and he experienced a psychotic break. And in that break he "discovered" nihilism and began to behave without the conscious that he had been burdened with so many years and was relieved and invigorated to be free from what crippled him. This leads to him doing things that he never would have done before he snapped as a reaffirmation (and perhaps to keep him from descending back into his old mind set).
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I always had the impression that Henry wasn't seen as part of the family by his mother (yes I do think the father had little to no role in the issue). The prolonged grief she passed through made Henry see himself as unfit. There was no emotional attachment displayed by Henry nor by his mother. Keep in mind that it's only impression that led me to this conclusion, never any character actually explained or is shown in such manner that supports this conclusion, only what I hinted by Henry and his mother facial expressions.
shareThere is no reason and Mark explained that to the doctor, but she doesn't believe in evil.
shareThat's because there is no evil per se.
There are just people and their behavior and people with different level of morale that judge them.
What clichés? Thats a word the wannabe critics use when they want to whinge.share
I have a feeling that Henry was the way he was because he was consumed by jealousy, like revenge, it is a poison that can consume us, he was driven by resentment and jealousy of all the attention his parents were giving Richard. From Henry's point of view, Richard got in his way, he felt threatened and he let his resentment consume him. But resorting to murder especially of a young defensless toddler is unforgivable and Susan did what she felt was right in the end.
There's not much time left in the world. Kyle Reese - Terminator 2 Judgement Day Uncut Ed. (1991)
I'm not sure I agree about the jealousy thing. Well yes I agree he was jealous but here is what I think. They never showed how his parents treated Richard and his sister and how they treated him. But I get the impression that his parents would have given equal attention to all the kids. Yeah I know that a little toddler needs more physical attention than older kids but I think Henry just did not want to share anything at all with Richard or his sister. He had no reason to be jealous and was just jealous because there was a meaness inside of him. Now if his parents favored his siblings and treated him bad then I could totally see why he would go psycho. If you can stand to sit through a black and white movie from the fifties I suggest watching The Bad Seed. You can find it on netflix. It can be slow and the acting can be silly but I believe the little girl in the movie and Henry were similar. They both came from great surroundings but it was like they were born without a conscience.
The scary clown doll is hiding under my bed.
That is a very interesting theory, I might just do that and find "the bad seed", I already had a look at the page, that looks very interesting.
There's not much time left in the world. Kyle Reese - Terminator 2 Judgement Day Uncut Ed. (1991)
Henry was a psychopath and a sociopath. People mention his comments to Mark about how he used to feel scared and then 'decided' not to be. I don't think that comment changes anything. Sociopaths and psychopaths can feel fear, there's no mention of a fearlessness in those conditions. Henry likely just merely got tired of his own fear and drew up a wall against it, decided to focus solely on his pleasures. Unfortunately, his pleasures all involved pain and manipulation.
And the poster that mentioned that sociopaths don't always kill anyone is 100% correct. In fact, there are thousands of sociopaths that never commit ANY crime...most likely because they don't want to go to prison! They may not feel empathy toward most or any person, but that doesn't mean they commit crimes.
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I do think as evidenced by this movie that psychopaths can't feel empathy but feel hate and jealousy. Henry had no real reason to be jealous I believe his mom did not favor the brother he drowned. He was jealous because he wanted all the attention. Not sure if the ducky was originally so important but he hated the idea of Richard having it or his mom after he drowned him. I believe that's partly why he took it I think also as a trophy or keepsake of the kill. Also if you read the book there is a interesting conversation between the mom and the psychiatrist that implied being born without a conscience. It should have been put in the movie.