Il segreto di David

I have a strict policy that states movies featuring either (a) a cat suddenly jumping out from a corner accompanied by an ominous sounding music chord or (b) a mirror that is empty of anyone but one character who turns away, then turns back and suddenly sees the killer in the mirror behind them...well these movies are only going to be so good. This movie has both, within about 60 seconds of each other. In spite of this, I have to say it's really not all that bad. I've seen many people complaining about the lack of originality, but when you're remaking a horror film from the 80's, it's almost inevitable that you're going to give the audience something they've seen before. That wasn't really bothersome to me though because the characters and anticipation overshadowed it for the most part.

Dylan Walsh plays the stepfather in a role that was actually likable for the first part of the film. He meets a single mom played by Sela Ward and all is picture perfect until her bad boy son comes home from military school. We only know he's bad by the way because someone tells us. He's a pretty normal, well adjusted kid considering that his dad is no longer around and his mother has engaged herself to a stranger in the span of 6 months. Far as I could tell, his behavior is still within normal range. It might have made for a more interesting film though if he really was a wild child.

So past that everyone knows what follows with the story. There is not a lot of gratuitous violence; even the killing scenes are low key which I don't really mind. If anyone is looking for lots of gore and clever death shots, this is not the film for them. The excitement is in the buildup, the experience of the characters finding out for themselves who the stepfather really is; especially when you have the one obligatory character, in this case the wayward son, who seems to intuit everything about the man from the first time he sets eyes on him. That standard plot device, a character who has it all figured out and NO ONE will believe him, well it's beyond old but it's moderately effective here.

The mindless and unnecessary adolescent dialogue, together with the many gratuitous bikini shots of the son's pale and too skinny girlfriend, tend to bring the quality of the film down. They were neither necessary nor helpful. But if you can look past that and the lack of originality (is it fair to expect that in this film really?) then you'll find an adequate film that's worth a couple hours of your time. I've seen much worse in the horror/thrillers in the past few years.

6/10

Having not seen the original version of The Stepfather I have to say that normally I'm not a fan of remakes, and usually, yes, I do loathe them because they always tend to be a load of crap (Texas Chainsaw Massacre remakes for example..). However, since I haven't seen the original Stepfather film I can't compare them both, but what I have seen in this remake is something else. I was really, really impressed with this, and I am going to have to seek out the original now to see what it was like.

The Stepfather basically tells the story of "David" - a disturbed man who is apparently normal and caring on the outside but very unstable on the inside, both psychologically and emotionally and one of who lives a lot double lives, looking for recently divorced women to emotionally manipulate them and ultimately, breaks them down and kills them and any immediate family. I always compare him to the girl out of the Orphan because they both have nearly the same tactics at luring people into trusting them - in fact this movie reminded me of Orphan a lot. Anyway, when he senses he may be in danger of having his history found out, "David" takes even more extreme action to cover his steps up a lot quicker than he would normally do. "David" has been doing this many for years, and also has evaded capture from the police by changing his appearance and never using any ID when purchasing, for example a car. He always pays in cash, and always changes his appearance in somewhat way before moving onto his next victim. You may think it's a relatively simple plot, but the movie itself is a lot of fun and suspense. There's also a lot of psychological tension and build up as "David"'s new family become suspicious of his activities and his apparent lack of background information. As the movie progresses, things turn for the worse for the family he has deceived as they become wary of his background.

The acting is first class, and the guy who acts as "David", Dylan Walsh? I think that's his name. He is very convincing in his role. I honestly can't find one bad thing to say about this movie, as I definitely enjoyed it, and the build up of psychological suspense kept me watching until the very end of the credits. All in all it's quite excellent, and I've given it a 9 out of 10, simply losing one point because it is still a remake, but one that is excellent.

If you're a fan of Orphan or indeed, The Strangers, The Stepfather's psychological factors may just peek your interests here. Definitely a must watch at some point. Very enjoyable!

Of all the films to remake The Stepfather (1987) starring the excellent Terry O'Quinn seems like a really peculiar choice.

I personally enjoyed the original and to an extent its two sequels but went into this assuming the worst. I felt like it would miss the point of the original and overly gloss it with Hollywood sparkle.

Well, it's somewhere inbetween. The Stepfather is a bigger budget version of essentially the same tale, but simply not done as well. So it looks all pretty pretty but doesn't have the same impact that Terry O'Quinn provided.

As a thriller this is passable, just try to forget that its a remake and don't compare it to the superior original.

Dylan Walsh is okay in the role and the film also includes a young Amber Heard on the upswing of her career.

Watchable stuff, but it simply didn't need making.

The Good:

Surprisingly excellent soundtrack

Passable performances

The Bad:

The whole thing feels so unnecessary

Not as good as the original

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

We shouldn't live in a world where we need to background check potential partners, but we probably should

I have to give this movie a favorable review only because it delivered something it didn't promise and that took me by surprise. The Stepfather, as I'm sure you all know, is a remake (reboot?) of the 80's slasher series that set the tone for every darn Lifetime movie starring Valerie Bertinelli or Nancy McKeon. A desperate divorcée falls for a mysterious guy who, despite telegraphing to the audience how evil he secretly is, manages to fool his fiancée and her family into thinking that he's a swell guy....that is, until the body count starts. The plot isn't worth discussing. There's nothing here that we haven't seen before. What IS worth discussing is the director's obvious decision to exploit Amber Heard's lovely figure in one long never ending cheesecake sequence. You could make the argument that the ONLY reason this film was even made in the first place was to launch Amber into the stratosphere of blogworthy sex symbols (not unlike what Michael Bay managed to do with Megan Fox). You'll see Amber in her underwear lounging in bed, Amber in her itsy bitsy teeny weeny bikini, gratuitous close-ups of her splendid anatomy, etc. This exploitation becomes so flagrant that it distracts from the story itself, which is probably a good thing. In a way the Stepfather 2009 comes off more like a 70's Drive-In flick; the kind teenagers would flock to in hopes of seeing a little skin. Maybe that was the point after all? I sure hope it was. The movie certainly doesn't deliver much else.

Dylan Walsh is a strong actor, but the material he's been given doesn't help him attempt to go toe to toe with Terry O'Quinn's iconic performance in the original. The stepchild's gender has been switched and Penn Badgley brings a lot of welcome vulnerability to the role while Sela Ward's concerned wife and mother doesn't get as much to do nor does Amber Heard as the concerned girlfriend.

The script has more cliches and bad scares than the original which hurts it a lot, but it's entertaining enough if you just want to decompress and watch something that doesn't require you to do much thinking.