MOVIE REVIEW: The Stepfather (1987)

The Stepfather is a slick thriller with a pretty creepy villain, but sorely lacking in a compelling story or characters. Terry O'Quinn, whom some of you may remember from "Lost" as John Locke is the titular "stepfather" - a serial killer whom is established in the first few minutes of having butchered a suburban family, changed his appearance, and relocated to a small town near Seattle to prey upon another unsuspecting family. His reason - to find the perfect family. When things don't go "perfect", he snaps into a murderous rage. This family in particular, has a troubled daughter, who's relationship with the stepfather is rocky at best. She starts getting suspicious when his behavior gets more irrational, and tries to uncover more about him.

From the looks of things, all of this may sound good on paper. But in fact, the film is very short on plot, and events seem to happen "just because", which only makes for predictability the majority of the time. Worse, it seems the writers gave O'Quinn's character the red carpet treatment, in terms of depth, but not as much to his supporting cast members. Perhaps it's the acting? For example, the lead heroine is this pipsqueak young lady who looks like she lept off of the cover of "Seventeen", and she's supposed to be a rough, violent, misanthrope who ultimately gets expelled. She plays vulnerable throughout the entire film; I felt like she was miscast. The same disappointment can be expressed for a lot of the other characters too - a clueless mother, and a meatheaded detective with an 80s semi-mullet.

O'Quinn however, steals the show in The Stepfather, his deadpan delivery of the film's darkly humorous dialogue and ability to flip personalities like a switch is a treat to watch. It's a shame the rest of the film is out of his league. The film reminded me somewhat of Orphan, only that film actually toyed with your sympathy for some of the characters, and here, the backstories are nebulous at best. We never actually figure out what compels Mr. Stepdad on his bloodthirsty quest, but maybe the writers couldn't either.

Apparently there's a remake out there that seemed to have came-and-went with little fanfare. I guess the remake's predecessor had enough of a cult following to justify being released in the first place!

6/10

Peace,
- Jon