The Stepfather (1987)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Such a frustrating disappointment

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Occasionally a low-budget B-movie style film will break ranks and become a minor hit. This can be said of THE STEPFATHER, a film made in the late #80s craze for horror-at-home style thrillers which bombarded the box office, including amongst their rank fare such as FATAL ATTRACTION. Where THE STEPFATHER succeeds is in a script which prefers subtlety over in-your-face blood and guts shocks, and a story which doesn't spoon-feed the audience and remains tight and complex. Running at just over eighty minutes, every scene is designed to further the plot in some way making for a very satisfying experience, with plot development occurring all the time so it stays interesting.The film also benefits from a career-best turn from the widely unrecognised Terry O'Quinn, who played a number of stereotypical bad-guy roles back around this period but who never got the recognition he deserved perhaps in light of this movie. O'Quinn is magnificent as the friendly, mild-mannered family guy who also happens to be a psychotic killer on occasion and the scenes in which he loses his cool are riveting. It's amazing the abrupt turn O'Quinn makes from being a seemingly peace-loving father one moment to a knife-wielding psychopath the next, very cold and chilling. The supporting cast is also a good one, with the other actors and actresses giving wisely subdued performances in order to make room for O'Quinn. Particularly good are Jill Schoelen as the curious stepdaughter who discovers the truth and Stephen Shellen as the hunter out for revenge. Only Shelley Hack is underused (and barely seen) as the wife who doesn't realise anything.The film isn't gory but then it shouldn't be: another strength of THE STEPFATHER is the realism of it, and lots of splashing blood would have dissolved the atmosphere it builds up. I liked the strong characterisation and the psychology behind O'Quinn's warped persona which is scarily understandable and the tight script which leaves no room for plot holes. THE STEPFATHER is a breath of fresh air in a stale genre, an offbeat and unpredictable movie which grips from beginning to end and focuses on the human mind as a source of horror instead of a silly scaly monster, thus making the terrors "closer to home" as it were.

This movie is the classic old time 80's horror/crime which I have watched several times and still will do. I think it was just as disturbing psychologically as it was for the murder scenes and I have watched horrors since I was about the size of a munchkin. I was not surprised at all they did a remake but nowhere near as good as the original, the acting and direction is all done very well and I think the script belongs to Terry O'Quinn (The Stepfather) who plays an excellent part and love his expressions and scheming looks on his face. If you like this kinda film then maybe Douglas Jacksons' The Paperboy will be right up your street. I give it a praising 7 out of 10. After all " Father knows best" Enjoy!

The Stepfather is directed by Joseph Ruben and collectively written by Carolyn Lefcourt, Brian Garfield and Donald E. Westlake. It stars Terry O'Quinn, Jill Schoelen, Shelley Hack, Stephen Shellen and Charles Lanyer. Music is by Patrick Moraz and cinematography by John W. Lindley.Why can't they leave me alone? Joseph Ruben's film is firmly ensconced in the land of B horror cultdom, and rightly so. Some horror fans may be disappointed at the lack of brutal killings actually shown on screen, but looking beyond that expectation there beats the heart of a cynical picture. The American Dream shed of its bloody veneer, the film plants an ambiguous serial killer in the normalcy of the family life that he so craves, that is until his vision of Americana family life is not met and his dark half comes to the fore.It's a cunning picture, keeping the killer's back story shaded in grey, and Ruben smartly keeps tension simmering away to keep viewers anxiously waiting for the stepfather to crack. O'Quinn is excellent as damaged dad, intense, measured and charmingly normal when required, and then not over the top when he cracks and rants. Around him he is backed by strong turns from Schoelen, Hack and Lanyer, while Ruben's direction and Lindley's colour photography bring a credible feeling to the plot.A running sub-plot involving Shellen's grieving brother doing detective work feels a bit superfluous at times, while a nude shower scene with Schoelen is totally unnecessary. Don't get me wrong, Schoelen has a lovely body and is a very pretty girl, the actress aged 24 at the time, but she's playing a 16 year old! It just comes off as pointless titillation in a film that didn't need such tricks. Small irritants aside, The Stepfather is intelligent horror and still holding up now in this age of torture and hackville sub-genres. 7.5/10

Recently widowed Susan thinks she's met the perfect new husband in Jerry Blake. Unfortunately, Jerry has a dark side to him, and only his stepdaughter Stephanie suspects the horrible truth: that "Jerry" is actually a serial killer who married widowed or divorced women with kids, plays the happy stepfather for a little while, before something sets him off, prompting him to murder every single one of them and move on to a new family and town after changing his name and appearance. Can Stephanie convince those around her of Jerry's true nature before it's too late for her and her mother? Or will Jerry's cycle of insanity and murder continue? Much has been said of Terry O'Quinn's powerful performance as Jerry and I have little to add except that I agree he's excellent in the role. His violent mood swings are truly terrifying to behold and yet, when he's calm, he honestly seems like he's trying to be a loving father.