The Stepfather (1987)
The Stepfather (1987)
DVDRip | MKV | 852 x 478 | x264 @ 2022 Kbps | 88 min | 1,51 Gb
Audio: English AAC 2.0 @ 124 Kbps + Commentary track | Subtitles: None
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
DVDRip | MKV | 852 x 478 | x264 @ 2022 Kbps | 88 min | 1,51 Gb
Audio: English AAC 2.0 @ 124 Kbps + Commentary track | Subtitles: None
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Jerry Blake (Terry O Quinn, Lost) is a man obsessed with having the perfect American Dream life: including the house with the white picket fence in the suburbs, an adoring wife and loving children. He believes he has found it when he marries Susan Maine and becomes the stepfather to her 16-year-old daughter, Stephanie. But Stephanie gets an uneasy feeling when she is around Jerry with his Father Knows Best attitude: she can see that there is a darker side behind his cheerful exterior. Could she just be going through the typical teenager rebellion against her new stepfather, or is he actually the same man who brutally murdered his family just one year earlier?
After two sequels and a remake, "The Stepfather" still holds up to this day as a very cool and creepy thriller. When I first saw it, for me, it was just decent. Then I watched it a second time, and it had gotten so much better. This movie is one of the best sleeper hits of the 80s.
Jerry Blake is the perfect family man. He has a great job in American Eagle realty, has a wonderful new wife, Susan, and a misunderstood daughter, Stephanie. Susan adores Jerry, but Stephanie is extremely awkward and weirded out around him. Right now, Jerry is close to having his perfect vision of "family." Until Stephanie catches wind of the man who murdered his family in another town. And other people begin to catch on to the fact that Jerry isn't at all what he seems to be. That's when Jerry really begins to snap. And if he can't have the American Dream, then he's going to make sure that he gets it, at all costs.
"The Stepfather" works very well as a thriller, and not a horror movie. It is extremely well-written, and the acting is perfection. This movie could have been an epic failure, but it has tons of energy and when it's supposed to be scary, it is.
But the main attraction of the movie is Terry O' Quinn's show-stopping performance as Jerry, before he went on to star in the hit TV series "Lost." He makes this character so believable and frightening. And when he has his first meltdown, in the iconic "basement" scene, you are on the edge of your seat, wondering when this guy is going to completely lose it.
The film was inspired by the real murders of John List, who had killed his family, and left his town in search of another one. He had disappeared for 18 years until he was discovered on "America's Most Wanted." This is a very interesting and original idea for a thriller, and Donald E. Westlake provides a very suspenseful script.
Despite some extremely cheesy music and some unnecessary but inevitable nude scenes, "The Stepfather" is an 80s thriller that I enjoy very much. When the remake came out, I had known several people who still remember the original 1987 classic and O' Quinn's chilling portrayal of a madman. If you haven't seen the remake yet, you might want to wait until it comes out on DVD, and give the original "Stepfather" a try. It's worth it!IMDB Reviewer
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The Stepfather (1987)
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