The Stepfather Movie Review
Rachael Lundeen
Issue date: 11/5/09 Section: Entertainment
4/5 stars
Penn Badgley stars in this horror thriller remake from 1987.
It all starts when Michael Harding (Penn Badgley) returns home from military school. While he is away, his mother (Sela Ward) falls in love with a man called David Harris (Dylan Walsh). The family perceives Harris to be perfect in every way that a father and husband should be, except Michael is hesitant. Michael suspects that his new stepfather is hiding something, but he just can't put his finger on it.
With the help of his girlfriend (Amber Heard), his biological father (Jon Tenney) and his aunts, they start to figure out some disturbing details about this new step father. They all see David in different daily activities and notice some weird truths, but it may be too late to save the family. He is a serial killer who preys off broken families.
Eventually David learns that they are onto him. Finally, the "happy family" becomes too good to be true. He starts getting uncomfortable and after a few thrilling scenes of violence and horror, Michael and David fall off the roof and are both left unconscious.
After a month, Michael wakes to find that he has been in a coma and that David got away when the police showed up the night of the incident. Then the scene switches to show "The Stepfather" working his magic on a new mother and her children in a new location. He is at it again and has moved on to his next victims.
Director Nelson McCormick did a surprisingly good job at making the remake just as spine chilling as the first, and Dylan Walsh putting a new twist on the family man made it better. This production generates thrilling terror backed up by good acting and a believable plot.
I will admit that I was curled up pretty tightly in my seat with my hood over my eyes during a few scenes. With the audience screaming at the same time, it made my skin cover in goose bumps. It was more of the take-you-by-surprise scares throughout that got the audience the most worked up. The story itself is not that scary; it is what happens to the normal family that makes it scary, because it makes you think it could happen to you. I'm not usually a fan of these types of movies, but I really enjoyed The Stepfather. Partly because of Penn Badgley, and partly because it was a really believable story.
Penn Badgley stars in this horror thriller remake from 1987.
It all starts when Michael Harding (Penn Badgley) returns home from military school. While he is away, his mother (Sela Ward) falls in love with a man called David Harris (Dylan Walsh). The family perceives Harris to be perfect in every way that a father and husband should be, except Michael is hesitant. Michael suspects that his new stepfather is hiding something, but he just can't put his finger on it.
With the help of his girlfriend (Amber Heard), his biological father (Jon Tenney) and his aunts, they start to figure out some disturbing details about this new step father. They all see David in different daily activities and notice some weird truths, but it may be too late to save the family. He is a serial killer who preys off broken families.
Eventually David learns that they are onto him. Finally, the "happy family" becomes too good to be true. He starts getting uncomfortable and after a few thrilling scenes of violence and horror, Michael and David fall off the roof and are both left unconscious.
After a month, Michael wakes to find that he has been in a coma and that David got away when the police showed up the night of the incident. Then the scene switches to show "The Stepfather" working his magic on a new mother and her children in a new location. He is at it again and has moved on to his next victims.
Director Nelson McCormick did a surprisingly good job at making the remake just as spine chilling as the first, and Dylan Walsh putting a new twist on the family man made it better. This production generates thrilling terror backed up by good acting and a believable plot.
I will admit that I was curled up pretty tightly in my seat with my hood over my eyes during a few scenes. With the audience screaming at the same time, it made my skin cover in goose bumps. It was more of the take-you-by-surprise scares throughout that got the audience the most worked up. The story itself is not that scary; it is what happens to the normal family that makes it scary, because it makes you think it could happen to you. I'm not usually a fan of these types of movies, but I really enjoyed The Stepfather. Partly because of Penn Badgley, and partly because it was a really believable story.
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