Let´s travel back in time to 1987. This was the year when Robert Englund returned in A Nightmare On Elm Street 4, where director Renny Harlin gave us a taste of his skills, from a technical perspective with cameras. Of course Robert Englund knew exactly how to deliver once again. Not as strong as A Nightmare On Elm Street 3 - Dream Warriors ( my personal favourite film in the series ), but still a fun ride. 1987 was also the year when Mötley Crue released their classic album Girls, Girls, Girls, an album made from all the strip club visits by the band ( and obviously after all their party nights i am sure ). This was also the year when the NES game The Legend Of Zelda was released in North America, one of the greatest Nintendo classic games of all time. There are of course many other reasons why we should remember the year 1987, but let´s focus on one particular film. The Stepfather, a low budget thriller was released in America on January 23rd. It may not have been a huge box office hit, but it was clear that the lead actor Terry O´Quinn was making a huge impact among some film critics. His performance as the serial killer got recognition, and the film actually managed to become a cult film over the years. Then in 1989, we got a sequel, and Terry O´Quinn was back as Jerry once more. The sequel may not have been awful, but compared to the first film it had no chance. Terry O´Quinn never returned as The Stepfather after this, and i can understand why. It would have been very difficult to make a film, as good as the first one. Then a couple of years later, a third film came out with a different actor, Robert Wightman in the lead role. This turned out to be a mistake, Robert could not go anywhere close the acting level to Terry O´Quinn, and the film flopped. I watched the film on VHS back in the 90´s, can´t remember much of the film, but i do remember it was bad. For a long time we did not hear anything about a sequel, or a possible remake. Until around the year 2008, when distribution company Screen Gems confirmed a remake was going to be released in 2009. I was actually happy about this, because it would be nice to see if the new actor Dylan Walsh would manage to be a worthy choice for this film. The film turned out to be ok, but not a worthy remake to the original film. Now in the beginning of 2017, i noticed that it has been 30 years since the original film came out, and of course it would be a good time to watch the film again, and see if it still holds today. Is this cult film still as good as i thought back in the late 80´s, or has it grown too old and barely give us anything interesting ?
Henry Morrison ( Terry O´Quinn ) is washing off blood of his face, takes a shower, and gets himself ready to leave his house. His family lies everywhere around the house, brutally murdered, while Henry leaves the house happy. A year later, Henry have changed his personality as the real estate agent Jerry Blake ( Terry O´Quinn ). He is married to widow Susan Maine ( Shelley Hack ), who have a young teenage daughter named Stephanie Maine ( Jill Schoelen ) who is a troubled teenager in school. Jerry believe that he is the key for the perfect marriage, and he knows what the family needs. Stephanie can tell that something is wrong with her stepfather, even if her mother Susan think that she is completely wrong. But when amateur detective Jim Ogilvie ( Stephen Shellen ), the brother of Jerry´s murdered wife, is hunting information about where Jerry is located, he finds out that he is married again. He lost his sister´s life to a serial killer, and he will do anything to stop Jerry from killing another family again. But is it too late, have Jerry already planned everything ?
I watched The Stepfather this week, for the first time in over 14 years. I still have the dvd i bought back in 2003, so i had to see if it would be as good, as i thought it was back in my youth. I am pleased to say that The Stepfather is still today a solid thriller. Maybe not as strong as i thought it would be, because this was one of my favourite thrillers of the late 80´s. Time have passed by, and even if the film may not make the same impact with me today, as it did in the 80´s, i have to say Terry O´Quinn is still really good in his performance as the insane serial killer. The way he switches over from a loving husband, to a brutal heartless murderer, shows that he really worked hard to capture the image of a serial killer. There are a couple of scenes where he really let the anger out, and you see how disturbed this man is. Like in the cellar, talking to himself, where he clearly let you know that the father is always right. No one knows how to handle family like a father. The story itself may not be anything special, but the strength of the film carries on by the performance of Terry O´Quinn. The other actors, Jill Schoelen and Shelley Shack do descent performances, but it becomes very obvious that they have a hard time matching up to the acting level as Terry deliver. Either way, there are some other positive things to mention about this film. The atmosphere surrounding the perfect family, clearly falls apart, and this is something that director Joseph Ruben ( director of The Forgotten with Julianne Moore ), manage to capture on screen. He must have studied the behavior of serial killers, because this film clearly give us a look into Jerry´s insane mind. Another thing i like about director Joseph Ruben´s vision of the film, is the way he show us the different personalities inside of Jerry, as if he have a personality disorder, but with a very disturbing look at the world. The fake perfect image that Jerry carries within himself, is too good to be true. He can never have the perfect family, no matter what he does to get what he wants. The Stepfather is still today, 30 years later, a thriller that stands on it´s own. It is a simple film, but effective. And i have a feeling that this film will continue to be a cult film. And it also proves that Terry O´Quinn should have been offered more roles, because he clearly knew how to make a strong character. Still, let´s look back at The Stepfather and remind ourselves where he really showed the world that he could shock the audience. 30 years may have passed, but The Stepfather is still worth a watch, and i suggest you pick up the Shout! Factory release dvd, or blu ray, with some nice special features. Any stepfathers out there who would help me make my noisy neighbor stop being rude ? Good, problem solved.
Rating: DDD
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