Review of The Stepfather (1987) by Jeff H — 13 May 2008

Directed by Joseph Rubin (Money Train, The Forgotten), the story of a seemingly peaceful suburban man whose warped sense of family values leads him to kill his existing family and start anew.

I donâ??t care, this movie is fun! Terry Oâ??Quinnâ??s psychotic portrayal of suburban family serial killer Jerry Blake is good enough to rival even Jack Nicholsonâ??s performance in The Shining (In terms of shock, I would compare Jack Torranceâ??s â??All work and no play makes Jack a dull boyâ?? to Jerry Blakeâ??s â??Wait a minute, who am I here?â??) The political aspects in this film are also very strong, not to mention unusual considering its genre (Although The Shining was essentially an allegory for America and David Arquetteâ??s recent horror film, The Tripper dealt with similar issues, though with little effect. *How can you screw up a movie where a serial killer dressed like Ronald Reagan hacks up hippies with an axe and leaves jelly beans as his calling card??? Even the tagline was genius: â??Heeeeeereâ??s Ronnie!!!â?? Hmm, perhaps horror is the best genre for American politics. Why do you think that is? I could see these three films as a trilogy) Yeah itâ??s overdone and at times all out cheesy, but hey â?? itâ??s the eighties.

A side note: Remember the 80s TV show â??My Two Dadsâ?? which came out the same year? How great would it have been if the season finale ended with Jerry Blake being the long lost third dad! â??Daddyâ??s home!!!â?? (This would also provide the perfect scenario to justly kill Paul Riser. Wasnâ??t that just the best part of Aliens?).