THE
STEPFATHER
With
Dylan
Walsh,
Sela
Ward,
Penn
Badgley,
Amber
Heard,
Sherry
Stringfield,
Jon
Tenney,
Braeden
Lemasters
Written
by
J.S.
Cardone
(based
the
original
screenplay
by
Donald
E.
Westlake)
Directed
by
Nelson
McCormick
And
the
scary
movie
remakes
keep
flowing
in.
Just
when
you
thought
the
remakes
of
movies
from
the
'80s
slasher
/
killer
/
horror
renaissance
is
tapped
out,
they
find
another.
This
reappraisal
of
the
1987
movie
cannot
really
be
shot
down
by
me
too
much,
since
I
didn't
exactly
find
the
original
that
captivating
in
the
first
place
(even
though
many
would
consider
it
a
classic).
A
disturbed
man
with
a
warped
search
for
the
perfect
family
gets
involved
with
a
divorced
mother,
the
two
of
them
getting
engaged
soon
after.
Her
son
returns
home
from
military
school
and
the
stepfather
plays
the
nice
guy
act
perfectly,
but
when
things
don't
go
the
way
he
envisioned
it,
his
deadly
urges
become
hard
to
suppress
and
his
real
personality
filters
through
the
fake
veneer
(those
getting
in
his
way
being
offed
in
a
variety
of
ways).
With
the
stepfather's
murderous
personality
exposed
in
the
opening
scene,
it
is
not
a
case
of
whether
he'll
end
up
doing
the
same,
but
just
a
matter
of
when
-
and
being
an
average
length
movie,
you
know
it
will
really
start
disintegrating
around
60
minutes
to
inevitably
climax
just
before
90.
As
with
the
original,
the
makers
focus
more
on
the
suspense
than
the
gore.
With
a
cast
consisting
of
many
TV-famed
crew
and
cast,
like
Nip
/
Tuck,
ER,
Once
And
Again,
24,
House
M.D.,
and
Gossip
Girl,
they
do
sidestep
the
danger
of
it
feeling
like
a
syndicated
tele-drama.
Bonus
features
include:
a
commentary
track
with
the
director
and
two
main
leads,
discussing
all
aspects
of
the
movie;
a
making-of;
dissecting
some
of
the
stunts;
and
a
gag
reel.
PS.
A
shot
used
in
the
trailer
involving
a
circular
saw
was
quite
effective,
but
for
some
reason
the
editor
chose
to
omit
it
from
the
final
cut...
3
/
C
-
Paul
Blom
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
-
A
-
B
-
C
Poster
image
of
the
original
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