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THE
STEPFATHER
PLOT
Stephanie doesn't like her stepfather, Jerry. He's kind, generous, and
desperately wants to get along with her, according to her Mother, but... he's
also a little too overprotective, and flips out in the basement when he gets angry.
For Jerry is a man with only family in mind, the perfect family in fact. But when
Stephanie starts to dodge his expectations, she doesn't realise what trouble she
is getting herself and her Mother into. For Jerry has only one way to solve family
problems, and it involves a sharp knife...and the lives of his kin.
REVIEW
The thing The Stepfather is most remembered for is it's key performance by
Terry O'Quinn. O'Quinn makes the character of Jerry Blake completely his own,
from the strange opening, where he changes his appearance (contact lenses, shaving
etc), to his murderous rages, he makes Jerry a creepy if not extremely smart figure...
almost like a grim reaper watching and preying on all those dysfunctional families.
O'Quinn also adds a degree of black humour to his character, and manages to portray
a lot of hidden anger through his evil glaring eyes. Excellent. Jill Shoelen also makes
a good little horror debut as Stephanie, Jerry's mischievous step-daughter, who really
doesn't trust him at all.
The opening, which sees Jerry leaving his old family is extremely creepy as we see his
house in a total wreak, and bloody handprints on the walls. It is the dead bodies lying in
the background, and the final shot of a dead bloodied child's body, which adds the most
menace too the scenes. And the menace doesn't let up throughout the rest of the film.
Whether it's Stephanie watching Jerry flip out, to the scenes where Stephanie's shrink does
a little investigating, there is always suspense and menace underlying the scenes...even a
scene where the family are having diner manages to be kept suspenseful, and full of tension.
The movie lasts around 90mins and moves at a nice pace. Some have complained about
a lack of action in the film, but the film puts a lot of time over to getting to know the three
main characters, and building up the tension, then going for pointless deaths, and stupid
plot-points the film doesn't need (even though I would of liked to see Jerry take out his revenge
on the teen boy Stephanie fancied).
Even though most of the first hour of the film plays out like a thriller, a keen slasher fan need
not worry as the film soon transpires into slasherdom. From a shower scene to a great little
chase scene involving Jerry and Stephanie, and a nice dollop of violence on the side, these scenes
could have jumped out of any number of slashers. But they are done with a lot more panache
and manage too be a lot more scarier then similar scenes.
The Stepfather did do quite well in the cinemas, but really hit it's home on video. The product
of which was two sequels, the first being quite a nice follow-up with O'Quinn returning, while
the second was a tad too cheesy and corny to be of any worth.
GORE
This is a movie which doesn't even need a speckle of blood to make it enjoyable, so what's
included is an added bonus. All the death's seen while being nice and gory are also very
brutal, even though there are only three deaths in the film (not including the bodies seen in the
opening). Here you receive a violent beating with a 2 by 4, and a great little stabbing. The goriest
death is left for Jerry himself, who is shoot at, then has a knife plunged into his heart...very good.
The most brutal scene in the movie in my opinion is the bit where Susan (Stephanie's Mother...
Jerry's wife) watches as Jerry gets confused on the phone. With a "Thank you Honey" he turns
and whacks her suddenly across the face with the phone. Very unexpected, and a nice jump
scene.
SOUNDTRACK
Patrick Moraz's score is two things. It helps show an everyday family atmosphere at the
beginning, and a slasherific scary one at the end.
BOTTOM LINE
This is a classic late 80's slasher/thriller (much like Dead of Winter), and features many truly
excellent things. From O'Quinn's performance, to a range of creepy, scary and brutal scenes.
This film is a definite winner. Finally as well it is available on DVD here in the UK, which is a
really good thing in my book. I'd recommend The StepFather to almost anyone.
Review
By: Schizo
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