I Liked 'Orphan' Better When It Was Called 'The Good Son'

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Actually, the headline is misleading. I didn’t like either film. But if you saw the new thriller Orphan](http://www.moviefone.com/movie/orphan/32213/main) this weekend and it seemed familiar, perhaps you’re remembering the 1993 Macaulay Culkin fiasco The Good Son](The Good Son (1993) - Movie | Moviefone). It’s not just that they’re both about evil kids; the similarities run deeper than that. Here’s a list, which is slightly spoiler-ish for both films.

In The Good Son and Orphan:

  • The setting is New England in the winter.

  • A mother mourns the death of her baby sometime earlier.

  • A past tragedy occurred involving water.

  • There is danger in a treehouse.

  • Broken ice on a frozen pond leads to near-tragedy.

  • A young boy is threatened with a sharp object (box-cutter or scissors) against his throat while he lies on a bed.

  • A psychiatrist interviews the evil child, finds nothing wrong with him or her, and believes it is the child’s main opponent who is the problem.

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