The Stepfather

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source: The Stepfather

The Stepfather

Tight, tense, superbly written thriller from Joseph Ruben. Terry O'Quinn is utterly convincing and downright hilarious as obsessive/compulsive nutbag Jerry Blake (The Stepfather), a Father Knows Best-type who is fixated on marrying into a perfect family he can control with an iron fist. Unfortunately, he meets with constant disappointment in his quest for suburban bliss and turns to murder to ease his frustrations. This premise is milked to the max by Ruben and screenwriter Donald Westlake. Watching O'Quinn come apart at the seams is a dark joy, as are his acts of brutal violence and bloody murder. Sequels inevitably followed, but they were inferior animals indeed. A black-humored classic.

After reading the plot outline, some of you might roll your eyes and mutter, "Oh, great. A formulaic, plotless, cardboard-character, derivative flapdoodle." Not so. The plot, which gives life and depth to the characters, is so ingeniously written that most viewers will probably not be able to anticipate what's coming next. Breath-taking suspense, occasional pitch-black humor, a creepy, creepy villain, superb acting, and a roller coaster pace all add up to make one heck of a ride. Terry O'Quinn's character is probably the creepiest maniac to ever grace the screen since Anthony Perkins in Psycho. If you have even the slightest interest in horror films, I strongly urge you to rent this film.

I haven't seen this film in years - I'm glad to get a chance to watch it again. It is a good horror film overall. Terry O'Quinn is fantastic as Jerry Blake - his performance is amazing. He "MADE" this film - and made it scary. This one rates fairly high on my personal scare factor scale. The character Jerry Blake is one twisted, cunning, evil and vile man. This guy is definitely off his rocker - not a man you would ever want to be around. The story is not all that bad, interesting, but this film is worth watching for Terry O'Quinn alone. The rest of the cast is good as well. Generally speaking, horror movie fans should like this film - it is creepy slasher thriller. 7/10

The Stepfather is an excellent movie, I especially liked the lead actor playing Jerry. His performance set the whole feel of the movie, with his outbursts of rage until he finally snaps. He is also very intelligent, when he snaps he sets up a entire new life in another town before he kills his family. The story is Jerry has become the stepfather in a family of a beautiful, young widow and a lovely daughter. Unfortunately, Jerry has a very strict definition of the perfect family and his new family just may not be making the cut. When his family starts disappointing him, he's is willing to kill for the American Dream. A great movie, not really a horror as such, but more of a psychological thriller that makes you think.

This is one of the best thrillers to emerge from the 1980s. It has assured direction from Joseph Reuben. An excellent script by Donald E. Westlake.And an absolutely mesmerizing performance from Terry O'Quinn, who invests his character with enough repressed fury to make most screen psychos look like Mr Rogers. The film starts out with a real sense of style as O'Quinn washes his bloody hands in a bathroom sink then proceeds to alter his appearance drastically before walking downstairs to his murdered family; its a startling and creepy beginning and the rest of the film is as stylish and well done. I think its biggest strength is the well-developed psychopathology of Terry O'Quinn's character. His behavior actually makes sense in terms of his madness. This is a refreshing change of pace from most films of this type, where the killers have zero motivation and are just plot-devices.

Nice guy (Terry O'Quinn) gets married to lovely wife (Shelley Hack) and her rebellious daughter (Jill Schoelen). He wants his family to be like "The Brady Bunch" or "Father Knows Best". However when his family doesn't live up to his expectations he brutally kills them, changes his identity and moves on to find another unmarried woman with kids. And he's getting tired of Hack and Schoelen... Exceptional thriller. O'Quinn gives a top-notch performance as the killer. He's helped by a very intricate script. Those two combined make you understand why he kills and plays with your emotions--I found myself actually liking the guy (for a while). There isn't a lot of violence in this, but when it appears it's very sudden, extremely bloody and shocking. The only liabilities here are Hack and Schoelen--they're pretty bad in their roles. But O'Quinn and the script more than make up for them. A sadly forgotten thriller from the late 80s. Well worth catching.