Stepfather: Il patrigno

This is one of the best thrillers to emerge from the 1980s. It has assured direction from Joseph Reuben. An excellent script by Donald E. Westlake.And an absolutely mesmerizing performance from Terry O'Quinn, who invests his character with enough repressed fury to make most screen psychos look like Mr Rogers.

The film starts out with a real sense of style as O'Quinn washes his bloody hands in a bathroom sink then proceeds to alter his appearance drastically before walking downstairs to his murdered family; its a startling and creepy beginning and the rest of the film is as stylish and well done. I think its biggest strength is the well-developed psychopathology of Terry O'Quinn's character. His behavior actually makes sense in terms of his madness. This is a refreshing change of pace from most films of this type, where the killers have zero motivation and are just plot-devices.

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.

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.

I haven't seen this film in years - I'm glad to get a chance to watch it again. It is a good horror film overall.

Terry O'Quinn is fantastic as Jerry Blake - his performance is amazing. He "MADE" this film - and made it scary. This one rates fairly high on my personal scare factor scale. The character Jerry Blake is one twisted, cunning, evil and vile man. This guy is definitely off his rocker - not a man you would ever want to be around.

The story is not all that bad, interesting, but this film is worth watching for Terry O'Quinn alone. The rest of the cast is good as well. Generally speaking, horror movie fans should like this film - it is creepy slasher thriller.

7/10