Famille décomposée

A little girl is traumatized when her parents' argument ends tragically… Seven years later, the girl is mature-looking 16-year-old Niki Koss (as Casey). A moody goth-type brat, Ms. Koss stays in her room for hours and sketches aliens growing out of trees. She wears too much make-up, black nail polish and stares into the flame of a lighter. We're meant to think this signals trouble, not style. Koss lives with her pilot father Matt Socia (as Robert Burris), biochemist stepmother Emmanuelle Vaugier (as Jill) and mature-acting stepsister Ava Acres (as Lydia) in an upscale neighborhood near the Angeles National Forest. At school, Koss meets self-admitted "perv" photographer Caleb Thomas (as Brad)...

People start to drop dead on their own, unless it's murder...

Writer Ken Brisbois and director Sofia Shinas do best with the cold, rich setting of this slow burning thriller. A seemingly idyllic environment offers no immunity to indwelling evil. The interiors are filled with striking wall space, shiny floors and intriguingly lighted camera angles. The story's main weakness is how "troubled teenagers" are portrayed. Koss and Mr. Thomas are meant to signal horror and perversion in their appearance. However, their appearance is not all that unusual. In fact, they could have been given nose-rings and still be considered normal. If you can get past that, the TV movie "My Stepdaughter" is unremarkable but better than most of the "reality" shows you see on television.

**** My Stepdaughter (2015-06-30) Sofia Shinas ~ Niki Koss, Emmanuelle Vaugier, Matt Socia, Caleb Thomas

Emmanuelle Vaugier is the only only redeeming thing about this movie. Everything else, writing, casting, wardrobe reeked Canadian. The stepdaughter's role was miscast with an actress that was one dimensional at best as well as the crazy sister whose accent interfered with her role are only two of the many problems affecting this movie. Having said this, I watched the entire movie and was entertained somewhat. Production values were low, bad acting was pervasive (especially the teens), but I never miss an Emmanuelle Vaugier movie, hopefully before she produces another movie she will demand a more competent production level before assigning her name to it.

This movie wasn't bad at all. What I do not understand is why so many people dislike or hate this movie. I can understand if it is certain scenes with acting that doesn't hold up in the right way or if it because the writing in this movie is incoherent. Again, why hate this movie at all? I enjoyed this movie particularly because the stepdaughter in this movie goes out of her way to kill people and to do whatever harmful idea that comes into her mind.