Review of The Stepfather (1987) by Ilmari S — 07 May 2016
Seriously flawed low-budget thriller saved from the scrapheap almost entirely by Terry O'Quinn's genuinely terrifying performance in the titular role. He plays a psychopath who drifts from family to family, marrying widowed women, and then killing the entire family when he decides they don't measure up to his ideal of the perfect American family.
What little insight the film gives us into this sick man's mind emanates from O'Quinn's performance. Jill Schoelen is reasonably strong and likable as the plucky teen who sees through O'Quinn's façade, but Shelley Hack is wasted in the underwritten role of her tragically credulous mother.
The script features a number of logical flaws that become increasingly difficult to ignore, and the suspense-driven sequences, while well-handled in a pedestrian sort of way, leave much to be desired.
That leaves us only with O'Quinn and the film's attractive location cinematography, which manages to give us some memorable imagery to look at. Not too bad, if you're into horror movies, but I've certainly seen way better.
This review of The Stepfather (1987) was written by Ilmari S on 07 May 2016.
The Stepfather has generally received positive reviews.
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