Dylan Walsh- David Harris/The Stepfather Sela Ward- Susan Harding Penn Badgley- Michael Harding Amber Heard- Kelly Porter Paige Turco- Jackie Kerns Sherry Stringfield- Leah Jon Tenney- Jay Nancy Linehan Charles- Mrs. Cutter Braeden Lemasters- Sean Harding Skyler Samuels- Beth Harding
Directed by Nelson McCormick
Screenplay by J.S. Cardone, based on a screenplay by Donald E. Westlake and a story by Carolyn Starin, Brian Garfield, and Donald E. Westlake
Distributed by Screen Gems
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing images, mature thematic material and brief sensuality Runtime- 89 minutes
Website: http://www.welcometothefamily.com/
"The Stepfather," directed by Nelson McCormick, is one of those horror thriller remakes that manages to succeed despite giving away its entire story within the first five minutes. It's not a great movie by any means, nor does it ever once reach the creep level of the 1987 original staring the great Terry O'Quinn (or the second sequel of that flick and a personal favorite of mine, "Stepfather III," starring Robert Wightman and directed by the great Guy Magar), but, most of the time, it's bordering on being pretty good. It never quite gets there but it tries.
The flick stars Dylan Walsh as David Harris, the Stepfather of the title, a man that travels the country under the radar and off the grid, latching onto needy divorced women with children, marrying them, and then eventually killing them when they don't live up to his ideal of the "perfect family." When we first meet Harris, he's just finished off his latest family by stabbing and beating them all to death, on Christmas morning no less. Before he drives off to his next destination, Harris makes sure to change his appearance (he shaves off his beard and colors his hair), take a shower (he probably worked up quite a sweat killing everyone in the house), and have a cup of hot java and a piece of toast slathered with peanut butter. When we next meet Harris, it's six months later, he's in Oregon, walking around a grocery store looking for peanut butter and a new lady to hook up with. He finds that woman rather quickly, a recently divorced mother named Susan (Sela Ward). And before you know it, Harris is a major part of Susan's family, living with her and her two kids (Sean and Beth, as played by Braeden Lemasters and Skyler Samuels).
And then there's Michael (Penn Badgley), Susan's oldest child, a hip and edgy pseudo delinquent just getting back from a stint in military school. He shows up, his uber hot girlfriend in tow (that would be Kelly, as played by Amber Heard, a certified master of the bikini), and is immediately suspicious of his soon-to-be-stepfather. Who the heck is this guy? Where did he come from? Michael tries to make nice with his mother's new love, even agreeing to be David's best man, but he's just not all that sure about the whole thing. Again, who the heck is this guy?
So some stuff happens, Harris starts to gain the trust of everyone in his new family, including Michael, when a neighbor, Mrs. Cutter (Nancy Linehan Charles), tells Susan that she just saw a report on "America's Most Wanted" featuring a guy that looks exactly like Harris. Susan blows it off as the ramblings of the neighborhood cat lady (Mrs. Cutter has a lot of cats), but when Michael finds out about the report, his initial suspicions grow deeper and more disturbing.
The rest of the flick plays out pretty much like you'd expect it to (and if you've seen the trailer for it you know exactly how it plays itself out). You know that there's going to be some kind of confrontation between Harris and Michael, you know Harris is going to terrorize his new family, and you know that it's probably not going to end all that well for someone. It's a bizarre way to build suspense for a thriller. It's almost like a slasher movie sequel in that we already know at the beginning what the monster killer is going to do, we just don't know when or how he's going to do it. For the most part, it's a strategy and structure idea that works. The movie probably could have worked using a more traditional slow mystery type structure, where the audience sort of joins in on Michael's quest to find out who exactly this David Harris guy is and finding out more and more as the movie plays out. I probably would have been complaining about the movie not doing that if the opening sequence wasn't as well done and powerful as it is.
That opening sequence is going to get to you. It's the sequence you're going to be talking about after leaving the theatre. It's the scene that makes the rest of the movie watchable as you wait and wait and wait to see how and when Harris is going to get tired of his new family and do something about it. You know he's going to do it. You know he's going to try. And you know he's going to spare absolutely no one. It's a dreadful future. It's just a pity that the rest of the movie doesn't really live up to that opening sequence, especially energy wise. The pace is brisk (the movie doesn't waste any time getting to where it wants to go), but the movie does start to trail off in the final ten minutes or so. And the ending is just ridiculous (I'll just say this. It violates the rules already established in terms of what the Stepfather does when he needs to move on to a new family). But, in total, none of it is terrible or oh so bad that the movie becomes unwatchable.
Dylan Walsh does an excellent job as the Stepfather David Harris. He's just pure charisma and menace, which is what you need to have for this kind of character. He can make a seemingly blank face seem loving one second and insanely murderous the next. Sela Ward also does an excellent job as Susan, the divorced mother of three that becomes the Stepfather's new prey. She has great chemistry with Walsh and you completely believe her as a mother longing for new love. Penn Badgley is okay as the hip and edgy pseudo delinquent Michael. He's got the sullen teenager thing down pat, but he's less convincing as a man of action towards the end of the movie. He just doesn't have the same screen stature as Walsh (I think I would have rather seen Ward take on Walsh at the end of the movie, but then maybe that's just me).
Jon Tenney does a great job as Jay, Susan's ex-husband and Michael's father. He's very good at getting under Sela Ward's skin, and he has a great contempt for Walsh's Harris. And Amber Heard is just awesome as Michael's girlfriend Kelly. As I said above, she's a bikini master and everything is just groovy when she shows up at the side of the pool, getting into the pool, and then getting out of the pool.
Paige Turco shows up as Susan's lesbian sister Jackie, and does a good job making it look like her relationship with Sherry Stringfield is no big thing (and it isn't, but it's been my experience that mainstream movies, more often than not, tend to make a big deal out of the fact that they have gay characters in them. It's not even mentioned here. It just is. Great job McCormick). Both Turco and Stringfield do fine jobs with their parts, but I have to really object to the lack of nudity from Stringfield here. She takes off her robe in the bathroom and then walks off screen towards the shower and we get to see nothing. Not even split second side boob. That's a travesty and, without question, a missed opportunity. For shame.
"The Stepfather" is a pretty okay time at the movies, decent even. I just wish the movie lived up to the creepy nastiness of its opening sequence.
Not a must see by any measure, but it's worth seeing if you've got nothing else better to do. You'll probably have a good time.
So what do we have here? Gratuitous adult paperboy, gratuitous hair coloring, gratuitous beard trimming with scissors and razor and shaving cream, gratuitous little piece of toilet paper over a small razor cut, gratuitous Christmas decorations, gratuitous "Silent Night," toast making, peanut butter on toast, gratuitous multiple Kim Richards, a barking dog, house alarm setting, gratuitous grocery store in Oregon, gratuitous Sela Ward, a surprise party, gratuitous Sherry Stringfield, a creepy basement set up, a tequila stash, gratuitous slow motion local high school swim team montage, gratuitous Amber Heard rolling around in her bed in her underwear, neck assault, attempted pool sex, gratuitous Jon Tenney, gratuitous "America's Most Wanted," an old woman with cats, attacking a "house for sale" sign, stair hooey with neck breaking, attempted sensual bed sex, pencil sharpening, glass jar to the head, luggage stealing, tape bondage with plastic bag suffocation, gratuitous tease of Sherry Stringfield nudity, gratuitous text messaging, attempted underwater sex, Amber Heard in her bikini, wet footprints, a swinging clothes hanger, gratuitous college applications argument, lemonade, pool drowning, cancelling a newspaper, a final confrontation with door breaking, shattered mirror shard to the neck, a knife and crowbar fight, a circular saw attack, and a lame ass ending that doesn't kill the movie but is still lame.
Best lines: "Life is not fair. Life is about the woman picking the cookies," "Where is the peanut butter?," "Is that regulation cut?," "You think it's such a good idea they're so passionate at that age?," "Where's the co-ed girlfriend?," "Oh, great, this will make me a hit with the neighbors," "Good morning, Mrs. Cutter," "It's okay. It's good to have an open family dialogue," "I left your mom. I didn't leave you," "I don't care what goddamn religion he is!," "Accidents happen," "David, you okay?," "Call me David," "Susan, I love you," "Who am I here?," and "He's gone?"
The 411: "The Stepfather" is a surprisingly entertaining horror thriller remake that features a good cast and a fabulous opening scene that will send shivers up and down your spine. The rest of the movie doesn't live up to the promise of its opening sequence, but what we do get is watchable. It's not great or anything, but you'll be entertained anyway. You could do a lot worse.
