Gurlyndrobb
While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
Lucia Ayala
It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
Caryl
It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.
Nazz86
Worth a watch I'd say, good plot, not stupidly over the top, and pretty realistic.
Leofwine_draca
Occasionally a low-budget B-movie style film will break ranks and become a minor hit. This can be said of THE STEPFATHER, a film made in the late #80s craze for horror-at-home style thrillers which bombarded the box office, including amongst their rank fare such as FATAL ATTRACTION. Where THE STEPFATHER succeeds is in a script which prefers subtlety over in-your-face blood and guts shocks, and a story which doesn't spoon-feed the audience and remains tight and complex. Running at just over eighty minutes, every scene is designed to further the plot in some way making for a very satisfying experience, with plot development occurring all the time so it stays interesting.The film also benefits from a career-best turn from the widely unrecognised Terry O'Quinn, who played a number of stereotypical bad-guy roles back around this period but who never got the recognition he deserved perhaps in light of this movie. O'Quinn is magnificent as the friendly, mild-mannered family guy who also happens to be a psychotic killer on occasion and the scenes in which he loses his cool are riveting. It's amazing the abrupt turn O'Quinn makes from being a seemingly peace-loving father one moment to a knife-wielding psychopath the next, very cold and chilling. The supporting cast is also a good one, with the other actors and actresses giving wisely subdued performances in order to make room for O'Quinn. Particularly good are Jill Schoelen as the curious stepdaughter who discovers the truth and Stephen Shellen as the hunter out for revenge. Only Shelley Hack is underused (and barely seen) as the wife who doesn't realise anything.The film isn't gory but then it shouldn't be: another strength of THE STEPFATHER is the realism of it, and lots of splashing blood would have dissolved the atmosphere it builds up. I liked the strong characterisation and the psychology behind O'Quinn's warped persona which is scarily understandable and the tight script which leaves no room for plot holes. THE STEPFATHER is a breath of fresh air in a stale genre, an offbeat and unpredictable movie which grips from beginning to end and focuses on the human mind as a source of horror instead of a silly scaly monster, thus making the terrors "closer to home" as it were.
atinder
I seen the first part of the movie before, I think it was on really late, so i had to missed the other that time.Now that seen the movie in full, I found this movie really good,I really enjoyed watching this movie, I was really into the movie, I found that movie flowed really well from start to end.There some-what tense moment, Which could be a bit more edge, it's decent, there were some nice bloody moment in this movie.I thought the ending was really good, it's shame ends up being a lie. (I know alive for next sequel) There were few thinks that really annoyed me this movie, I found what was point of those,when added nothing to the last scene and I just some other scenes a bit of a time waster.The acting was really good from everyone in the the movie, over the Mr Lock was outstanding.7 out of 10
gwnightscream
Terry O'Quinn, Jill Schoelen and Shelley Hack star in this 1987 thriller. This begins during Christmas time with a mysterious man (O'Quinn) changing his identity and leaving his home after brutally murdering his family. A year later, we meet teenage girl, Stephanie Maine (Schoelen) and her mother, Susan (Hack) who live with the man who now calls himself, Jerry Blake. Jerry works as a real-estate agent who longs for the perfect family, but it becomes difficult when Stephanie and others get in his way discovering he's not who he seems. This is a good 80's thriller with a good cast and O'Quinn is especially great in it. I recommend this.
