Kill, Daddy, Kill!

THE STEPFATHER begins with an introduction to the title character, Jerry Blake (Terry O'Quinn). Jerry is looking a bit disheveled, in a full beard. He's also covered in blood! Pictures on the walls of his home tell us that he has... well, he had a family. The scene in his living room makes it quite clear that Jerry has put an end to that, and is moving on. This all happens in the first three minutes!

Enter Susan (Shelly Hack), Jerry's new wife, and her daughter Stephanie (Jill Schoelen). While Susan can't believe how fortunate she is to have found such a perfect man as Jerry, Stephanie is having difficulty with the change. She also notices something a bit off about her new "dad". Is Stephanie just being insecure? What could possibly be wrong with a stepfather wanting the perfect family? Wellll, his last family certainly found that out!

Now, as time goes by, Jerry finds problems developing, and his dream might just be coming undone. Alas, his way of coping with such difficulties isn't very healthy. How long will it take for the nightmare to start? Meanwhile, Jim, Jerry's highly suspicious ex-brother in-law attempts to track Jerry down. He's got plans of his own for Jerry.

This is O'Quinn's signature role, and he plays it beautifully. Jerry is a semi-sympathetic role, and made me hope that his new situation would -somehow- work out, for everyone's sake. It is genuinely frightening to watch him mentally unravel, knowing full well what he's capable of doing. Ms. Hack plays the oblivious spouse, overlooking things, hoping it's all in her head. Ms. Schoelen is Jerry's foil, seeing through his false surface, knowing right off the bat that something just isn't right about this guy. When she gets a glimpse of him as he truly is, it confirms her prior fears. The question is, will anyone believe her in time?

This is a horror / suspense / thriller done to perfection. Jerry would be so proud...

Nice guy (Terry O'Quinn) gets married to lovely wife (Shelley Hack) and her rebellious daughter (Jill Schoelen). He wants his family to be like "The Brady Bunch" or "Father Knows Best". However when his family doesn't live up to his expectations he brutally kills them, changes his identity and moves on to find another unmarried woman with kids. And he's getting tired of Hack and Schoelen...

Exceptional thriller. O'Quinn gives a top-notch performance as the killer. He's helped by a very intricate script. Those two combined make you understand why he kills and plays with your emotions--I found myself actually liking the guy (for a while). There isn't a lot of violence in this, but when it appears it's very sudden, extremely bloody and shocking.

The only liabilities here are Hack and Schoelen--they're pretty bad in their roles. But O'Quinn and the script more than make up for them.

A sadly forgotten thriller from the late 80s. Well worth catching.

I first saw this in the early 90s on a vhs.

Revisited it recently.

A psychotic serial killer and a master of disguise, Jerry Blake is obsessed with having an ideal family. He changes his identity and job and is always on the lookout for a new widow so that he can start a new family. Whenever any new family members do not comport with his expectations, he spirals into a spell of madness and attempts to brutally murder them. Inspite of being aware that his new stepdaughter doesn't like him, he tries hard to make it look like a complete happy family in front of neighbors. Blake is unaware that his last victim's/wife's brother is on his trail.

The brother of the last victim who is on the trail looks like Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

Terry O'Quinn's acting is the highlight.

The direction n script is also well done.

The film moves at a good pace and it has ample amount of tension, suspense n creepiness. Am i the only one who found the movie a bit darkly comical too.

The scene where Jerry Blake puts one anonymous innocent moustachioed fella's photo in the envelope. I laughed out loud.

Jerry Blake's facial expressions aft seein his own photo in the mail.

The time Blake is caught off guard in the basement venting out some steam.

The way the doctor gives him a fake call as a prospective buyer jus to meet him.

I found all these darkly comical.

Jill Schoelen was 24 at the time, but she's playing a 16 year old in this movie and her nudity was a put off n uncalled for.

This movie was based on a true story. Back in the 1950's a man named John List murdered his wife and kids and married into another family with no father and he was eventually caught. This movie is on a similar basis. This has to one of the best films of the 1980's. Terry O'Quinn is absolutely brilliant as the psychotic stepfather, in other movies you wouldn't think of him as a psychopath like that. Shelley Hack was a bad choice for the wife, the role was unfit for her, in my opinion they should of gotten somebody more dramatic (you choose who), and Jill Schoelen was superb as the daughter, possibly her best film, she played the role as if she lived it before. Charles Lanyer as the psychiatrist was an absolute bore, he should have played the reporter. Stephen Shellen was good as the vengeful brother in law and finally Blu Mankuma as the cop (so what else is knew) seemed like he didn't care about the case. If you want to see a great thriller based on an actual story watch this. I give this 10 out of 10

The Stepfather has many memorable scenes. Terry O`Quinn portraits a very sick man, and this madness is made clear from the very start of the movie, when the (step)father has just killed his family and we are introduced to him as he removes his beard and in other ways alters his appearence to allow him to find another family and again become THE STEPFATHER. The most memorable scene for me is when he interrupts his step daughter on the porch kissing her date for the evening good night. The stepfather snaps, because he wants the family to remain static for ever, he is crazy. So then his wife comes down and she yells at the stepfather saying that he has ruined what they had built up. The expression on his face when hearing that is one of sheere terror. The stepfather is so fragile. The basement scene where the step daugther is getting something in the freezer and the stepfather rushes into the basement to let off some steem, not knowing she is there. It is all very scary.