The Stepmother

1972 "She forced her husband's son to commit the ultimate sin!"
4.1| 1h34m| R| en
Details

Returning home from a business trip, an architect assumes that a client is having an affair with his wife and murders the man. His feelings of guilt and attempts to conceal the crime lead to more complications and death.

Director

Producted By

Crown International Pictures

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime. Watch Now

Trailers & Clips

Reviews

XoWizIama Excellent adaptation.
Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews
Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.
Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.
BA_Harrison Arriving home from a business trip, Frank Delgado (Alejandro Rey) finds that his wife Margo (Katherine Justice) has been entertaining his client Alan. In a jealous rage, Frank accosts Alan as he leaves his house, strangling him to death. After disposing of the body, Frank returns home, but the police are soon on his trail.Believe it or not, drive-in flick The Stepmother was nominated for an Oscar in the best song category; it didn't win, but it's an interesting fact for avid fans of low budget '70s trash, the only people for whom this film will hold any kind of appeal.A tawdry drama/thriller, The Stepmother is far from great cinema, suffering from a meandering storyline that takes an age to go anywhere, but it does deliver a few fun elements along the way, including those staples of the exploitation genre, violence and nudity (including the obligatory shower scene).The film also features a spot of jazz flute (always a bonus in my book), bizarre use of random slo-mo and freeze frame, a crazy film director called Goof who uses beatnik speak (It's a gas! You dig?), a seduction scene between Margo and Frank's virginal son Steve (Rudy Herrera Jr.), and a couple of moments that I found unintentionally funny (the death of Frank's friend and the 'He's got a gun!' ending).Worth seeing if only for the beautiful Ms. Justice. 4/10
Leofwine_draca THE STEPMOTHER is another tawdry skin flick put out by Crown International Pictures and directed by Hikmet Avedis. The plot is murky and complicated and opens with a murder before leading to a situation which has no kind of suspense or impact whatsoever. A bunch of characters gather at a house but not much really happens throughout. The title is something of a misnomer and refers to a sub-plot that doesn't go very far. If you're looking for exploitation values there's not much in the way of them either, with this coming across as both tame and dull.
Red-Barracuda A hot-headed architect thinks his wife is cheating on him, which leads him to murder. Another, even worse guy gets the blame but the police still have suspicions. Meanwhile, the stress of all this palaver drives his wife to seduce his son.This drive-in flick was made by exploitation specialists Crown International in the period when they were producing their most consistently interesting work. While this isn't amongst their best as such, it's still effective enough and gets by quite a bit off the back of its early 70's charms. It has to be said that it indeed does take a long while before the title of the movie attains any relevance whatsoever but that's just one of the factors that gives this one its goofy appeal I reckon. So long as you don't go into this one with unrealistic expectations, then I think a pretty good time can be had. Its simple-minded melodrama kept me entertained in any case. On a final note, and what has to be the one thing that will always make this one at least a footnote in cinema history is the quite unbelievable fact that the crooning song with Latin beat that plays over the credits entitled 'Strange Are the Ways of Love' was actually nominated for an Academy Award! There is no way on Earth I ever expected anything from Crown International got anywhere near Oscar territory. The early 70's truly were strange days indeed
Uriah43 Upon returning home from a business trip "Frank Delgado" (Alejandro Rey) finds another car in his driveway and happens to see his wife, "Margo Delgado" (Catherine Justice) in their bedroom with another man. As the man comes out into the front yard Frank kills him in a fit of rage. Immediately afterward he comes to his senses and decides to quickly bury him in a field on the outskirts of town. Unfortunately, as luck would have it the body is soon discovered anyway and Frank is considered as a possible suspect. In the meantime though, Frank cannot manage to forgive his wife because of her supposed infidelity and so refrains from making love to her from then on. What he doesn't know is that the man he killed had forced himself on her and since Margo is unaware that Frank knows anything about this incident it has left her feeling confused and sexually frustrated. Now, rather than reveal any more of the film I will just say that this was an adequate movie for the most part. The acting was okay but the story seemed to lag here and there. Likewise, I also thought the ending was a bit too abrupt. All things considered then, I rate the movie as slightly below average.