Die Abrechnung - Eine Tochter kehrt heim

The Stepdaughter? After watching this I am left wondering why it was even called that? Was there even a stepdaughter in it? Was Susan/Karen someone's stepdaughter?

But, on to the movie itself. It was interesting enough to keep you watching and wondering a little, but most of the time I spent groaning and rolling my eyes at the various plot holes and silliness. At times it is amazingly predictable, other times mildly suspenseful, but most times only slightly entertaining. My favorite cliches include the little "idiot" boy saving the day, the bumbling lawman, the good-looking big stud farm hand trying to force himself on her, and "I'm so crazy I talk to my doll". Then after all the buildup and clues start coming together... the payoff is very weak I felt.

I don't want to be all negative about any film, so I'll say that Andrea Roth does a good job as does Lisa Dean Ryan I thought. At least for what they had to work with.

4/10

A lot of these direct-to-video movies aren't always the greatest, because they obviously couldn't even make it to the theater. I have no clue why this wasn't in theaters. It wasn't all that bad. Andrea Roth and Lisa Dean Ryan were rather good, and the story was really great. I recommend this movie. I give The Stepdaughter a 7 out of 10. :)

An unsuspecting family takes in a woman named Susan (Andrea Roth), who claims to have been in a car accident. Of course, the viewers know that Susan has just committed a coldblooded murder. The victim just happens to work on the very ranch that Susan has now "stumbled" upon.

The family has no idea that this woman knows who they are. Only the daughter seems to smell a rat. Mom and dad are oblivious, and junior even goes so far as to take Susan to a cave to show her the bottomless pit he's discovered. No one else knows about it.

This could come in very handy!

THE STEPDAUGHTER is a suspenseful movie, though it's pretty obvious what Susan's up to and why she's picked this particular family. Her state of mind is shown to be... troubled. Especially, since she has a doll that she talks to. A lot! The tension builds well, and Ms. Roth's character is sly and diabolical...

While not a wholly original or fantastic movie, it is better than a lot of the other direct-to-video thrillers. Andrea Roth & Lisa Dean Ryan both do really well with their parts. If you can overlook the more predictable plot points, it is a descent movie to watch.

No pun intended - with movies like this one, you may not always know what you'll be getting. In this case, you have a movie that could be called decent. Not because it will surprise you (quite the opposite, this is as predictable as you can imagine - again no pun intended) ... but because it has some nice moments in it ... although nice may not be the right word to use for it ... because she is not playing nice (yes I know another pun - I live for them, like characters in movies like this one live for revenge ... or mayhem in general).

If you are into easy thrillers (or whatever you would call this very low budget effort) and do not care that much about acting and other things (quality of sets and video and so forth) ... you could do worse I reckon .. on the other hand, there are so many movies ... maybe you should not waste your time on something like this ... as I did.