The Stepfather
Tags: murder, flashback

Plot synopsis:
The movie starts off with Grady Edwards (Dylan Walsh) in the bathroom looking in the steamed up bathroom/mirror, as he puts some dye into his head and rubs it in. It later shows him showering, and then as he wipes the mirror off, he cuts off the hair on his beard and shaves. He then removes colored contact lenses from his eyes.He makes his way by grabbing his things downstairs, as it shows family pictures of him with the children, and his wife. He turns on the radio to play Silent Night, and you can see by the decorations around, and the song that it's around Christmas time, or even on Christmas day, morning preferably or the day afterwards. He goes into the kitchen where he puts toast into the toaster, and grabs some coffee. He spreads some peanut butter on his toast, and as he's eating he walks around the house a bit, and as he does a little boy is seen with his head down in a sleeping position at the breakfast table.He also looks into the decorated living room, to where it also shows his wife in a lying down position, and another child near the Christmas tree in a lying down position. He picks up his bag and heads for the door, as a flashback comes in with a girl running to the door screaming. At this point as he is about to exit, and punches in the security code there is a little girl lying on the floor. He leaves and gets into his car.It is shown that the bodies of the woman, and her three children have been found, and the father of the children was devastated upon learning about his children's death, and especially in that way and that their stepfather is nowhere to be found.As this is being played out, the stepfather is seen as he goes from one place to another, changing cars, and places and he heads into a town, in where he is at a grocery store. He's in the cookie section, and he overhears a woman (Sela Ward) who introduces herself as Susan Harding with her two children (Braeden Lemasters) Sean Harding, (Skyler Samuels) Beth Harding arguing about what cookies to get. He sides with the woman, and says that women rule and they know best especially when it comes to cookies. That gets a smile from the woman. The stepfather introduces himself as Daniel Harris. She sees his wedding ring and asks him about his children, and he explains how he lost his wife and daughter in a car accident last year. She apologizes profusely and he accepts it and they depart, even though as they go through the check out line aisle they check each other out. She also fixes her hair a bit. Later on she invites him out for pizza with her kids and as he gracefully accepts.Six months later. A young teenage girl (Amber Heard) named Kelly Porter is picking up her boyfriend (Penn Badgley) Michael Harding from somewhere, and as they're in the car talking, she's going on about how he's a great guy, and he's not all that impressed.They make their way into the house and as he is looking around in the house, the girl, Kelly, goes out into the yard to which she calls the boy, Michael out to join her. He does, and is surprised by his entire family, and friends to welcome him home. As he sees everyone again, and meets the man that his mom has been seeing for quite some time, is now living with, and is soon to be married to, David Harris.They talk a bit, and Michael seems suspicious of him even upon first meeting him and is not sure what he thinks of him. Despite David going out of his way to impress him.Michael looks in the basement and sees all these cabinets in there with locks on them. He touches them and is told in a very firm voice by David, that those are his, yet Michael can take any other ones, and David reveals that he's a carpenter wannabe and is experimenting with building things.David tells Michael he heard Michael is a swimmer and says he use to swim back in his college at the U of O back in the day. They share a drink, of some stash of alcohol that David has hidden.Time passes, and David is told that Michael likes to swim a lot, and is a good swimmer so he convinces the swim team coach to let Michael back on the team on a probationary basis, and as he heads home he hands Michael the key to his locker room. As Michael smiles, about this you can see he might be opening up to him just a bit.A nosy old woman with a 'gazillion' cats named Mrs. Cutter shows up at the door and is greeted by Susan. She and Susan talk about David, as Michael overhears. Susan dismisses her nosy neighbor and heads into the kitchen where she shares with David Mrs. Cutter's suspicion/accusation that he's that stepfather that America's Most Wanted is looking for, since he fits the description. This ticks off David, yet he doesn't let it show and asks Susan just how reliable this woman is. To which Susan replies that she knew about someone's affair, and told everyone else before telling him, and she was right. David leaves for work and as he is driving by, he waves at Mrs. Cutter as he leaves which spooks her out. Michael heads downstairs and he and his mom talk as she prepares him breakfast.David is at lunch with Michael and he gets the name of his child wrong, first he said it was Michelle then said it was Lisa, and how she'll be 11 next week or would have been, and then Michael calls him on it, to which David replies her name was Lisa Michelle that's why and he gets angry about it, so much so that when he puts an open house sign in, he's hammering it in totally oblivious to all that is around him. He glances up when he sees a couple that is interested in the house and they make their way inside.David greets Mrs. Cutter upon coming home, and later on her doorbell rings and as she goes to answer it, there's no one there. As she goes back inside, she sees her cat acting wildly and goes to see what's wrong. As she does, the cat shrieks loudly, and starts hissing and she wonders why, as she gets up, she sees David and screams, and he hits her and drags her across the room and he throws her down the basement stairs. He holds her cat and heads down the stairs and holds her mouth so she can't breathe until she dies. He leaves.He heads back to the house, and Michael and Kelly are hanging out by the pool and Sean is playing video games with the music blasting. His mom Susan asks him to turn it down twice, yet he keeps playing it real loud. David comes in angrily into Sean's room and grabs him violently by the neck and tells him, "Your mother asked you to turn it down." Sean is stunned, shocked and scared not sure what to do about what just happened. He's close to tears as well but doesn't say anything.At dinner time he barely says a word, and the doorbell rings and it's their dad, (Jon Tenney) Jay Harding, and he greets his kids as they head to the car and talks to Susan about his arrangement with the kids and they argue a bit. He leaves.Susan comes back in and mentions to David about how her ex is such an ass/jerk.Susan's ex shows up and punches David out, and yells at him for hurting Sean, and Michael takes his father outside, while Susan comforts her son, and David apologizes to him for hurting him, and says he made a mistake, Susan makes it clear what he did was unacceptable. He tells her she's right.Michael is still suspicious of David as he snoops around the house. David is at work and (Paige Turco) Jackie Kerns, tells him that he needs to file out his paperwork so she can stop paying him under the table and he can get paid. She needs his photo I.D. He tells her he'll take care of it right away and puts the file into his desk. Throughout the next few days or weeks she keeps trying to contact him about this, and he keeps telling her he'll get to it, and ignores it. He tells Susan he wants to work somewhere else, as it's not working out for him in real estate, despite being a natural at selling houses.He tells Susan he'll look online for places he could work that require less travel and goes to use her computer. Susan tells him that she's going out with her friends, Jackie and Jackie's friend (Sherry Stringfield) Leah, and they go out for drinks. While Susan is out with her friends they tell her about their suspicion about David's avoidance. And Michael and Sean are playing video games. Sean is still fearful of what David might do about the noise in the game, yet Michael tells him it's cool.Jay shows up at the door and apologizes to David for his behavior and tells him he's heading to the airport and wants to say goodbye to his kids. David invites him in, and goes into the kitchen to answer the phone. It's Susan who asks him if Jay showed up, as he said he would to say goodbye to the kids. David says no, he's not there when he is and hangs up with her. Jay talks to David about his suspicions of him, and about his lie about him going to the U of O College and his name and wants to know what else he's lying about. He goes into the kitchen to find it empty, and wonders where David went. He turns around as David smashes Jay's face in with a crystal vase and Jay crashes to the floor.Michael and Sean hear the commotion and stop playing their game. David holds Jay down, then as he hears them go back to their game, drags Jay down the stairs, as he attempts to suffocate Jay by putting a plastic bag over his head. Michael heads downstairs to see what the noise is about again and Jay is struggling but dies. David then goes and tells the taxi driver that Jay changed his mind and pays him off and unloads all his stuff out of the car and puts it into the locked cabinet in the basement. David sends Michael a message from Jay's phone saying he still doesn't like David but at least he 'seems to be who he says he is'. Michael then becomes tearful.The next day, and Michael looks out the window as David is talking to the mailman about police cars across the street. He finds out that Mrs. Cutter died by falling down the basement stairs and breaking her neck. David tells Susan and the kids about that, and they're shocked about it. Susan feels bad for saying horrible things about Mrs. Cutter and David just shrugs like no big deal. Susan tells David she's heading out and tells him not to forget to pick up the kids from the dentist. He tells her ok. As he does, he heads up to the attic to work on something, and gets a phone call. It's Jackie who tells him again that she wants that paperwork done, and he tells her he's not working there anymore and doesn't think it's necessary. She tells him it is necessary and she needs them ASAP. He tells her he will when he has time, yet he has to pick up the kids from the dentist, and is making up a lot of excuses to avoid it. He hangs up on her, and Michael tells David about Mrs. Cutter's tragedy about how it's a shame and David says accidents happen.Michael and Kelly are in the back in the pool area trying to fill out some college applications and he's talking about his suspicions again, and they go into the pool to swim and make out. David shows up and tells Michael that he's going to go pick up the kids and tells them to behave and leaves.At this point Michael and Kelly make their way into the house and start to snoop around, and David gets a call from Susan who tells him she's picking them up as she's closer and David heads back to the house. He sees that Michael and Kelly are no longer in the pool, or in the yard and goes into the house looking for them as he sees their footprints on the ground. He looks into Michael's room and doesn't see anything, and goes into his room, he looks outside again and sees they're still not in the yard. And as he heads in his room, he hears a splash and some laughing and sees Kelly and Michael back in the pool and then he shuts the curtain.Michael also checks on the computer and sees the America's Most Wanted site up in the search and sees the article about the stepfather and the slayings and prints out the photo for Kelly to see to which she thinks he's reading too much into, and it's probably nothing. Michael takes a photo of his mom and David, and later on takes a look at the photo he has, and the photo of the man that is wanted.That night, Susan takes her two younger kids to some place so they can go camping for a couple of days. She'll be gone at least a couple of hours, and David tells her he'll just search for jobs, and maybe jog. He goes to see what Michael is up to, and Michael says he's heading to see Kelly. Michael sees that his photo on his phone OF David is gone, and knows it was David that deleted it and goes to see Kelly and tell her about it.Jackie is still suspicious of David and tells her girlfriend Leah about it, and tells her she can't wait to see her, and is heading out. She tells Leah that she left a voice message for Jay, and hopes that Susan won't be mad at her, but will leave her a message too about her suspicion and David's avoidance about this paperwork. She sends her an email, which David sees, reads, and deletes. Then he heads over to Jackie's place and drowns her in her pool.Then he heads home, and Susan comes home, and sees David and he tells her he was out jogging to clear his head, and he tells her that Michael is at Kelly's. They head upstairs, and David gives her a sleeping pill to relax her, and she takes half of it. They head to bed. As she is sound asleep, he's wide-awake looking up at the ceiling, and it is shown in the bathroom his tools (killing tools maybe?) laid out waiting for a good time.Michael heads home with Kelly in tow in the car and he tells her of his suspicion, and tells her he's going to check things out in the basement and if she sees any light on in the house to warn him, as he has his phone on vibrate. He heads into the yard and breaks the window to get into the basement. He slips in and breaks the lock and sees a bag, he empties it out and sees the freezer. As he heads to it, Kelly sees the light has opened in her house and heads over to warn him by the phone. His phone vibrates and it falls, breaking, and he goes to pick it up and the pieces. Then he looks in the freezer and sees the dead body of his father in the freezer and screams.Kelly heads out to warn Michael and is knocked out by David, who drags her back into the house and is in the kitchen taking out the duct tape, and some knives and screaming how it's not working out and he needs a new family and blah blah. Susan enters and asks him what's going on, and why is he shouting. He tells her he can't take it anymore and wanted her to be Mrs. Grady Edwards, to which she asks him what he said. He realizes his error too late and says "Who am I here? I meant David Harris", and she screams as she sees him grab a knife and chase her through the house. She's screaming and Michael is down in the basement screaming to get out, and he does and grabs Kelly and she sobs and they head up. Susan heads into the bathroom and slashes David in the throat with a piece of glass that David throws at her. It looks like he is dead as he falls into the shower and she heads out, backing away and embracing Michael and Kelly.Then David shows up and Michael and Kelly and Susan head up to the attic, David chases them up, and they're screaming for help, and he tells them the boards are loose and Kelly grabs a jigsaw and tries to throw it on David, and Michael is screaming no and falls through the crack board, and then Kelly and Susan fall through the roof, and David looks down on them. Then Michael grabs David and they go through onto the roof outside, and both of them topple over onto the ground.Michael is in the hospital as his mom and Kelly are there comforting each other, and he's in a coma waking up.... A month has passed, and they explain by the time the police got there David disappeared and he's gone. And as he's taking all the news in, Michael is in shock and it changes to another scene, in a store, a woman and her two boys. She chases her two boys somewhere, and she meets a man.The Stepfather now has a bandage on his neck, and he greets her, and tells her his name which is now Chris Ames, and smiles. The woman introduces herself as Julie King and smiles back. And it looks like the Stepfather is starting again with his charms as he targets a new woman as it all ends (Another one of those annoying here-we-go-again twist endings).

Review: The story begins with Michael Harding (Penn Badgley) returning home from military school to find his mother (Sela Ward) happily in love and living with her new boyfriend, David (Dylan Walsh).
Along with his girlfriend Kelly (Amber Heard), his father Jay (Jon Tenney), and Susan's friends (Paige Turco and Sherry Stringfield), they slowly start to piece together the mystery of the man who is set to become his stepfather, but they may be too late in getting to the truth...
And then there's a few things that drag the film down, like the sexualization of Amber Heard ( numerous shots of the young actress in her bikini and underwear, which I wouldn't mind, had it been done more tastefully instead of being a deliberate attempt to please the male audience), plus the poorly done makeovers of David and the lesbian subplot which made absolute no sense to me and seemed out of place.
The Stepfather fully utilized the "dramatic music and close-to-danger" situation that results in nothing but making the viewer think something was going to actually happen.I knew the rest of the audience attending was in agreement with my opinion of the movie as stupid plot mechanism after stupid plot mechanism continued the "thrilling suspense." People were sarcastically shouting "Oh my god!" and "Come on!" and I couldn't agree more.
After killing the whole family in Salt Lake City, the psychopath David Harris (Dylan Walsh) moves to Portland where he approaches to the divorced Susan Harding (Sela Ward) with her son Sean (Braeden Lemasters) and her daughter Beth (Skyler Samuels) in a supermarket.
Of all the films to remake The Stepfather (1987) starring the excellent Terry O'Quinn seems like a really peculiar choice.I personally enjoyed the original and to an extent its two sequels but went into this assuming the worst.
So it looks all pretty pretty but doesn't have the same impact that Terry O'Quinn provided.As a thriller this is passable, just try to forget that its a remake and don't compare it to the superior original.Dylan Walsh is okay in the role and the film also includes a young Amber Heard on the upswing of her career.Watchable stuff, but it simply didn't need making.The Good: Surprisingly excellent soundtrack Passable performances The Bad: The whole thing feels so unnecessary Not as good as the originalThings I Learnt From This Movie: We shouldn't live in a world where we need to background check potential partners, but we probably should.
As both of them get to know each other, he along with his father (Jon Tenney) become more and more suspicious of the person who is always there with a helpful hand .Exciting thriller has well-cast Dylan Walsh who manages to deliver a good performance as a family-values man in search of the perfect little family but he results to be a psycho who eventually erupts into violence.
That wasn't really bothersome to me though because the characters and anticipation overshadowed it for the most part.Dylan Walsh plays the stepfather in a role that was actually likable for the first part of the film.
A lot of them seem to believe this is some kind of Lifetime movie, some call it a typical dumbed-down teen thriller and I saw one reviewer call it a call back to old horror titillation, and I'm surprised and that this film is neither of those.
It's a film about domestic life and show's you every minute of what's happening with both the son and the stepfather, explaining every happening and soaking up all the tension between them, with the only exposure to his teen life his girlfriend, who serves less as his flat love interest to escape to and more like his straight-man who calls him about on an obsession based on a (though correct) simple distrust.
It takes everything you knows about thillers, and while it doesn't turn them all around or revolutionize anything, it at least stays away from the stereotypes or make the standard tropes less tired It's not some kind of Lifetime movie of the week, or MTV Award bait, or even one of those David Loughery faux-thrillers; what this is a tight scripted, well-acted, truly suspenseful film that keeps you guessing, if you can predict what already happens.
I recommend a lot of movies, but if your a horror or suspense fan and you've at least okay with the remakes of films like Friday the 13th or My Bloody Valentine, you have to go see this movie!
There was no story arc whatsoever, it just didn't seem like it was snowballing into this incredible edge-of-your-seat suspense, he ended up killing everyone in such obvious and stupid ways, there were some scenes that could have been made to be incredible, but they were cut short and you didn't really know what happened.
I was really, really impressed with this, and I am going to have to seek out the original now to see what it was like.The Stepfather basically tells the story of "David" - a disturbed man who is apparently normal and caring on the outside but very unstable on the inside, both psychologically and emotionally and one of who lives a lot double lives, looking for recently divorced women to emotionally manipulate them and ultimately, breaks them down and kills them and any immediate family.
I did like the ending and what happens to the stepfather; I felt it was a fairly good and interesting conclusion to the film.
The third act of 'Disturbia' wasn't great, though, which I think the remake of 'The Stepfather' succeeds in – having the film go through a constantly interesting pace..
It brings really nothing new to the table and pretty much just introduces younger crowds to our old school classics.The Stepfather is yet another movie remade and re-imagined but they couldn't really take it to far as the original did.
STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning Michael (Penn Badgley) returns home from military school to find his mother shacked up with new guy David Harris (Dylan Walsh) who has a troubled history of his own he hasn't told any of them about- namely, he shacks up with family after family before butchering them and making off as if he never existed.
In fact, it's laughability is one of it's selling points, in a 'so bad it's entertaining' kind of way (check out the still on the back cover with Sela Ward's mother character, screaming in terror but looking more like she's won the lottery.) Aside from this, it's notable for having Dylan Walsh in the lead role, an actor I haven't heard about in quite a while, here showing he's competent delivering darker roles.The Stepfather benefits from a haunting, creepy opening, as the dour Christmas tune Silent Night plays over Walsh's character calmly going about things with the corpses of his latest victims (including children!) lying all around him.
Other than the Stepfather, you'd think one of the characters would have had the sense for what to do with a phone.If you're one for eye candy, you'll love the son's girlfriend who, aside from at the beginning of the movie, apparently seems to live her entire life wearing only underwear or bikinis..
Knowing that some people are aware of my crusade against what I call "needless modern remakes of already modern-enough movies," I'm guessing they may very well ask why I bothered seeing a new version of the 1987 original (which was already a good horror-thriller as it stood).
The movie really is pretty good, I might even say that it is better than the original, but I saw the remake first.
After recalling my nostalgic feelings for the original-and also being a fan of NIP/TUCK-I was sorta lookin' forward to this remake.Dylan Walsh (who plays plastic-surgeon Sean McNamara on NIP/TUCK) plays 'the stepfather' in question who is a serial-killer looking for the 'perfect family'.
Polished up for a modern look with new younger, hip actors/actresses with the hopes of appealing to a new audience that has never seen the original (as is the modus operandi of all the recent remakes), but again has failed to deliver the two key aspects needed for such a feat...quality and substance.Suspension of disbelief is a needed trait for most horror films, but I'm sorry, trying to believe that Penn Badgley is a going into his senior year of high school seems even worse than 90210's peak cast years.Amber Heard is very easy on the eyes but after the 10th scene of her in either her underwear or bikini, I started to question, does she own any actual clothes?
It did not look like an original idea, and it looked like it was taking from other sources.The Stepfather (a remake of a 1987 film starring a pre-Lost Terry O'Quinn) revolves around the titular character played by Dylan Walsh.
After a chilling opening sequence that sets up what kind of a sick psychopath this guy is, the film picks up with him going by the name David Harris and meeting the recently divorced Susan (Sela Ward) and most of her family.
The film stinks of atrocious writing (and even worse dialogue), and offers up far too much curiosity over why no one has thought David's behaviour is odd well before Michael shows up and begins asking questions.Whereas films like Disturbia, its original Rear Window, and even director Nelson McCormick's own remake of Prom Night work on toying with the audience's perceptions of who may or may not be the killer, The Stepfather does away with all of that intensity and gives away everything that even would remotely suggest some sort of fear.
The horror exists only because someone at Sony thought it was a good idea to remake the movie, and just throw together a PG-13 rated script that would potentially lure in the teenage audience and either offend or completely alienate the rest of the movie going public.As bad as the film is, I really feel for Walsh.
But I am certain most people have already heard about how much less she wears in The Informers, so that selling point makes her even more useless mere moments in.I loved the opening scene in The Stepfather, but the film falls apart mere minutes after it happens.
There is likely a very good reason for that...it stinks.Like nearly ALL the endless remakes and reboots that have been plaguing movie goers for the past decade or so....all this is, is a heartless version of the original.It has no heart.It has no soul.It is a retelling of a film that we all love and cherish...and it adds nothing to the story.
Dylan Walsh did a very good job in this picture, the movie is about a man who killed his last family, and now decides it's time to start over in a new town, with a new family, there he meets Sela Ward who he falls for instantly , after time goes by they get married..
b. a person with whom one has sexual relations." (Webster's Collegiate Dictionary Tenth Edition) Now that I've cleared up this factual error on the part of the screenwriter the new 'Stepfather' succeeds as a good remake on the level that it takes much from the original films giving the audience what it wants.
OK it isn't going to change your life but it is gripping in parts and has good ongoing tension.At the very start of the film we know that the Stepfather (David Harris played by Dylan Walsh) is a killer.
You know that something awful is going to happen so you are willing the characters, particularly the son, Michael Harding (played by Penn Badgley), to do something before it is too late.I am confused as to why this movie has received such bad reviews.
This direct-to-video remake of the 1987 film gained pretty negative reviews almost everywhere, but I don't think it's that bad: sure, it's very predictable and it kinda lacks the tension of the original, but it's far better than many other thriller/horror flicks out there.
She's just vapid until the end and even then you don't care about her character because she like the 2 children are forgettable...but she's in more scenes but still I just remember not caring for her much The fact that we see a lot of Michael and his suspicions while it never really focuses a lot on the interplay between him and The Stepfather...it seems forced at times which it's supposed to but it doesn't even gel right when it's forced I don't even remember the names of the little kids, as far as I'm concerned they wasted money on that part of the budget because those two other kids are so forgettable.
While this 2009 version is in itself entertaining and thrilling enough to keep the audience on the edge of their seats, it is a movie that the cinema could have been well enough without.The story is about a killer who preys upon families without a father in the frame, where he movies in, settles in and then kills them when they have served their purpose.The movie is nicely filmed and cleverly set up to thrill the audience, which director Nelson McCormick did quite well.Carrying this movie almost entirely by himself was Dylan Walsh, in the role of the deviant stepfather.The 2009 version is good for those who haven't already seen the original movie from 1987.
I like those, so I was reasonably happy.Dylan Walsh gives a good enough performance, but by the end he is going beyond the ordinary.Sela Ward is a respected actress and she does just fine here, but there isn't anything particularly distinctive.
I wasn't as big a fan of the original "The Stepfather" movie as some people are, but it sure looks better to me after watching this remake.
First off, a warning: THE STEPFATHER is a remake of a 1980s horror film starring Terry O'Quinn (from LOST) as the murderous family member.
The actual lead turns out to be the teenage son, played effectively (although without much sympathy) by Penn Badgley, although the award for best scene-stealer goes to Amber Heard, who parades around in a bikini for her ENTIRE running time.The murder scenes are well handled and the direction is for the most part acceptable, a surprise given that Nelson McCormick also handled the disappointing PROM NIGHT remake.
However, Penn Badgley (Michael) and Amber Heard (Kelly)do have some pretty good chemistry as the slow-to-doubt teens, and Sela Ward (Susan) does a convincing acting job herself, with an optimism that becomes concern as David/"The Stepfather"'s masquerade of perfection begins to crumble.
As in the previous venture, the main character (Dylan Walsh) is a serial killer who woos unsuspecting young women (in this case, Sela Ward) with children into letting him move in as a apart of the family, then coldly dispatches them in a gruesome display of bloodletting and violence.The major difference between this version and the previous one is that the oldest child (Penn Badgley), who becomes convinced of the stepfather's true identity over time, has been changed from a daughter in the original to a son here, just as the daughter's psychiatrist has been converted into a lesbian aunt (Paige Turco) for this version.
Stepfather, The (2009) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Remake of the 1987 cult film has Michael (Penn Badgley) returning home after a year in Military school and learning that his mother (Sela Ward) is living with a new man named David (Dylan Walsh).
I did not find it to be very memorable, but I understand why the film The Stepfather found a moderate success back in 1987.The slasher cinema cycle was on decadence, saturated with masked imitators of Jason Voorhess, whose idea of "innovation" consisted on using new kitchen utensils in order to commit the murders.So, in that context, it was different to present the appearance of the "stepfather", a sober, realistic and disturbingly normal villain.And besides, it offered two solid performances: one of them was from the always brilliant Terry O'Quinn in the leading role; and the other one was from Jill Schoelen as the "final girl", a promising actress who was proclaimed by some people in that time as the next Jamie Lee Curtis.22 years later, the remake of that film was made, and even though there have been worse remakes (like Prom Night or Black Christmas), it is still a lame and tedious movie in which I wasted my time.The only positive element I found on The Stepfather was the performance from Dylan Walsh, because he feels credible on his role.As the "hero", we have the bland Penn Badgley, who feels truly irritating.And sure, the absence of an attractive heroin (as in the original film) created the necessity of new "visual attractive"...a work which fell on Amber Heard, who was condemned to interpret most of her scenes using a bikini or underwear.Heard is attractive, but such an obvious and gratuitous strategy cheapens the movie, and it ends up leaving a bad taste...Was it really necessary to show so many discussions near the swimming pool?In summary, I do not recommend The Stepfather (2009) at all, mainly because the story never got me interested and the direction feels absolutely listless..
The plot is about this guy named David Harris played by Dylan Walsh who actually did a good job with what he was given, that goes around trying to make the best family by weaseling his way into being a stepfather, but when his attempt to make the perfect family fails.
I read here that its a remake, well I haven't seen the original movie and now I'm starting to feel that maybe that is why I liked it a lot!
Dylan Walsh plays a pretty good psychopathic serial killer.I recommend this to anyone who wants to watch a thriller and doesn't mind clichéd plots..