The Stepfather (2009) Reviews

• The Stepfather: Sub-par remake

  Platypuschow2017-11-28

  Of all the films to remake The Stepfather (1987) starring the excellent Terry O'Quinn seems like a really peculiar choice. I personally enjoyed the original and to an extent its two sequels but went into this assuming the worst. I felt like it would miss the point of the original and overly gloss it with Hollywood sparkle. Well, it's somewhere inbetween. The Stepfather is a bigger budget version of essentially the same tale, but simply not done as well. So it looks all pretty pretty but doesn't have the same impact that Terry O'Quinn provided. As a thriller this is passable, just try to forget that its a remake and don't compare it to the superior original. Dylan Walsh is okay in the role and the film also includes a young Amber Heard on the upswing of her career. Watchable stuff, but it simply didn't need making. The Good: Surprisingly excellent soundtrack Passable performances The Bad: The whole thing feels so unnecessary Not as good as the original Things I Learnt From This Movie: We shouldn't live in a world where we need to background check potential partners, but we probably should

• Doesn't have the subtlety of the original but still an enjoyable remake

  BernardoLima2010-01-10

  "The Stepfather" is a remake of the 1987 cult classic by the same name staring Terry O'Quinn. The story begins with Michael Harding (Penn Badgley) returning home from military school to find his mother (Sela Ward) happily in love and living with her new boyfriend, David (Dylan Walsh). As the two men get to know each other, Michael becomes more and more suspicious of the man who is always there with a helpful hand. Is he really who he says he is or could David be hiding a dark side ? Along with his girlfriend Kelly (Amber Heard), his father Jay (Jon Tenney), and Susan's friends (Paige Turco and Sherry Stringfield), they slowly start to piece together the mystery of the man who is set to become his stepfather, but they may be too late in getting to the truth... In the last decade we've witnessed a lot of remakes and spin offs, most of them unnecessary, and that's the case with this film. And the reason why it is unnecessary, is because it doesn't add anything to the original besides a groovy soundtrack. The film doesn't really have a voice of its own, instead it's almost a play by play remake with a few differences to make it up to date. Despite being unnecessary, this remake is still quite enjoyable, however, it doesn't have the subtlety of the original and also Terry O'Quinn was much better as a protagonist then Dylan Walsh. O'Quinn had more charisma and delivered his lines with much more impact. And then there's a few things that drag the film down, like the sexualization of Amber Heard ( numerous shots of the young actress in her bikini and underwear, which I wouldn't mind, had it been done more tastefully instead of being a deliberate attempt to please the male audience), plus the poorly done makeovers of David and the lesbian subplot which made absolute no sense to me and seemed out of place. Despite all this, The Stepfather is still a nice little thriller and quite enjoyable, just know that the original is far better. 6/10

• Amber Heard in a bikini...oh yeah...and some other stuff.

  carlosgateleaper2009-10-29

  I have to give this movie a favorable review only because it delivered something it didn't promise and that took me by surprise. The Stepfather, as I'm sure you all know, is a remake (reboot?) of the 80's slasher series that set the tone for every darn Lifetime movie starring Valerie Bertinelli or Nancy McKeon. A desperate divorcée falls for a mysterious guy who, despite telegraphing to the audience how evil he secretly is, manages to fool his fiancée and her family into thinking that he's a swell guy....that is, until the body count starts. The plot isn't worth discussing. There's nothing here that we haven't seen before. What IS worth discussing is the director's obvious decision to exploit Amber Heard's lovely figure in one long never ending cheesecake sequence. You could make the argument that the ONLY reason this film was even made in the first place was to launch Amber into the stratosphere of blogworthy sex symbols (not unlike what Michael Bay managed to do with Megan Fox). You'll see Amber in her underwear lounging in bed, Amber in her itsy bitsy teeny weeny bikini, gratuitous close-ups of her splendid anatomy, etc. This exploitation becomes so flagrant that it distracts from the story itself, which is probably a good thing. In a way the Stepfather 2009 comes off more like a 70's Drive-In flick; the kind teenagers would flock to in hopes of seeing a little skin. Maybe that was the point after all? I sure hope it was. The movie certainly doesn't deliver much else.

• Nothing New

  mustluvtacos2009-10-21

  I'm pretty sure this movie comes on Lifetime about three times a day. Not that there is anything wrong with re-telling an old story. I loved Christian Bale as Batman. But telling a story again in the same way as I've seen it a million times before? No likey. The biggest problem that I have with this movie is this. If there were no music in the entire movie... it would not have been remotely creepy. The only thing that seems to tip characters off that something may be awry is the ominous music in the background. There was not a single genuinely scary moment. "Oh no, my future step-father is standing in the kitchen! He must be a murderer!" Save your money, turn on Lifetime and watch the man hating gold you're already paying for.

• Cliché and predictable.

  K_Schafer2009-10-21

  I had the opportunity to see this film for free at an advanced screening last week. What I was met with was a poorly constructed and executed film. Fifteen minutes into The Stepfather I was bored and could not wait for the ending credits to roll. Characters in this movie were poorly thought out and extremely static. The way many of them acted was so unrealistic that it was hard to watch at points. Amber Heard's character was undeveloped and pointless, merely a factor of eye-candy as she was in her underwear or a bikini for 97% of the movie. Even Sela Ward lacked in the acting category in this film. If the stale characters weren't enough to make you grunt in agony then the plot and atmosphere was. The soundtrack was riddled with horrible music choices that clashed entirely with the mood of the movie. And the plot was extremely predictable and overdone. The Stepfather fully utilized the "dramatic music and close-to-danger" situation that results in nothing but making the viewer think something was going to actually happen. I knew the rest of the audience attending was in agreement with my opinion of the movie as stupid plot mechanism after stupid plot mechanism continued the "thrilling suspense." People were sarcastically shouting "Oh my god!" and "Come on!" and I couldn't agree more. How many cell phones need to break to put these characters in a state of panic? How many times must the villain magically revive himself after a near-fatal beating? Yawn. Don't see this movie. It was not worth being free, not worth the time. Best part of the movie for me? The movie theater popcorn.