Terry O'Quinn

Jill Schoelen

Shelley Hack

Charles Lanyer

Stephen Shellen

Stephen E. Miller

Robyn Stevan

Jeff Schultz

Lindsay Bourne

Anna Hagan

Gillian Barber

Blu Mankuma

Jackson Davies

Sandra Head

Gabrielle Rose

Richard Sargent

Margot Pinvidic

Rochelle Greenwood

Don S. Williams

Don MacKay

Dale Wilson

Gary Hetherington

Andrew Snider

Marie Stillin

Paul Batten

Sheila Paterson

George Bowers

Jay Benson

Donald E. Westlake

Carolyn Lefcourt

Joseph Ruben

John Lindley

James William Newport

Brian Garfield

Christopher Koefoed

Richard  Stewart

Chris Haire

Scott Irvine

Bill McCurraugh

John Wardlow

G.W. Davis

Kathleen Bennett

John L. Anderson

Jim Jasterzebski

Keith Stafford

Tim Myers

Dave Bowe

Michael Smith

Bruce Giesbrecht

Doug Davey

Barbara Harris

Ken Hemphill

Dennis A. Brown

Rod Parkhurst

Oliver Berg

Graham Crowell

Jean Murphy

David R. Anderson

Duncan MacGregor

R.D. 'Luther' Fairbairn

Chris Harris

R.K. Hill

Warren Carr

Len Morganti

Robert Crone

Jeff Plecas

Gary Brooks

James Marshall

John 'Sandy' McCallum

John L. Brown

Brewster Ingram

Jeremy Borsos

Geoff Hilliard

Rex Raglan

Andrew Brown

Tim Hogan

Casey Grant

Michael E. Steele

Christine Wilson

Matthew O'Connor

William H. Orr

Larry Sutton

Barry Kootchin

Barry Donlevy

David Chiasson

Dan Bennett

Ken W. Anderson

Annmarie Corbett

Bill Thumm

Robert Weinberger

Tink Ten Eyck

Joseph Lederer

Myrna Cobb

Lynn Elston

Patti Allen

Linda Kelly

Joanne Ryan

Jim Dunn

Jacob Rupp

Kathy Hubble

David Willson

Susan Boyd

Mina Mittelman

Kimberley Richardson

Jane Feinberg

Judy Taylor

Maurice Parkhurst

Mike Fenton

Patrick Moraz

The Stepfather Collection

Horror

Thriller

The Stepfather

ITC Entertainment

New Century Vista Film Company

United States of America

United Kingdom

English

psychopath

widow

shower

stepfather

murder

serial killer

real estate agent

psycho killer

psycho

murder of family

***What if your stepfather is a psycho?***

After an amiable man (Terry O'Quinn) in the Seattle area slays his family he starts a new one under a different identity, but his discerning stepdaughter (Jill Schoelen) picks up on his questionable morality.  

“The Stepfather” (1987) is a solid crime drama/thriller with a bit o’ horror. Movies like “Psycho” (1960), “Play Misty for Me” (1971), “Halloween” (1978), “The Shining” (1980) and “Fatal Attraction” (1987) come to mind, but this is equal parts coming-of-age drama in the mold of “The Crush” (1993) with a sort of inverted story.  O’Quinn effectively portrays the delusional titular character while Schoelen is reminiscent of a young Demi Moore. The decidedly 80’s score is quaint. 

The film runs 1 hour, 29 minutes, and was shot in the Vancouver area, including Edgemont Village. The main cast is rounded out by Shelley Hack (the girl’s mother), Charles Lanyer (her therapist) and Stephen Shellen (the justice-seeking brother of the original family).

GRADE: B+

CinemaSerf

Leaving a scene of carnage behind him, “Jerry” (Terry Quinn) chucks the evidence over the side of his departing ferry and goes off in search of a new life. He is soon settled down with “Susan” (Shelley Hack) and her teenage daughter “Stephanie” (Jill Schoelen). That all seems to be proceeding well enough, he’s got a job as an estate agent and though his relationship with his new step-daughter could be better, things seem fine. Suddenly, though, it’s as if a switch has been flipped and his previously more menacing character starts to rear its ugly head. His family aren’t quite as malleable as he required and so, well, you can imagine his reaction and the rest of the plot. I suspect his approach to a pain-in-the-ass teen might resonate with some, but perhaps not with a family who have to come to terms with his increasingly unpleasant behaviour and that’s really the gist of this. It’s not exactly original, nor does it stray very far from the path of predictability as the drama is repetitively protracted to maximise the sense of peril without really paying much attention to plausibility. We know that “Ogilvie” (Stephen Shellen) is on his trail, but that thread rather peters out before a denouement that is both rushed and clumsily sequel-boding. It’s ok, but nothing special, sorry.

The Stepfather (1987) Original Trailer [FHD]

TCM Slumberground | Wicked Stepmother (1989) & The Stepfather (1987)

Josh Olson on THE STEPFATHER (Trailer Commentary)

Stepfather (1987) - DVD Trailer

The Stepfather( 1987)

He wanted a perfect family in a perfect town. But they couldn't measure up...Neither could the others...

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A review by Wuchak

Written by Wuchak on Thu Sep 05 2019

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