Platypuschow 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 originalThings I Learnt From This Movie: We shouldn't live in a world where we need to background check potential partners, but we probably should

leonardomasi This direct-to-video remake of the 1987 film gained pretty negative reviews almost everywhere, but I don't think it's that bad: sure, it's very predictable and it kinda lacks the tension of the original, but it's far better than many other thriller/horror flicks out there. The acting is on point, the technical direction is good and the story flows well resulting to be quite entertaining. Also, the characters are not so obvious: when Dylan Walsh/David snaps while fumbling with knives, he mentions that "boys need to be educated with hits and violence" and he may be alluding to his own twisted education, the origin of his madness. The only true turnoff is the ending: repeating the same scenario of the opening was not a smart move. After all, folks... it's a direct-to-video, one must not expect too much from it.

Wizard-8 I wasn't as big a fan of the original "The Stepfather" movie as some people are, but it sure looks better to me after watching this remake. The cast does try hard, but they can't overcome the fact that there is not much here. The director's main ambition, instead of trying to generate suspense and jolts, seems to be to make the movie look pretty. The movie looks too polished and slick; the original movie used its low budget to add some serious grit. But the real problem with this movie is that it is too slow and by the numbers. You'll be able to guess ever so-called plot turn before it actually happens. There's no suspense as a result, which may explain why the climax is set during a violent rainstorm, to try and generate atmosphere. It doesn't work, and neither does the rest of the movie.

SnoopyStyle David Harris (Dylan Walsh) is the stepfather from hell. He kills his stepkids and new wife. It's not even be his first kills, and each time, he gets a new identity. His next target is Susan Harding (Sela Ward) and her kids. Six months later, her oldest son Michael (Penn Badgley) returns home after military school to find David living with the family. Michael's longtime girlfriend is Kelly Porter (Amber Heard), and he doesn't get along with his father Jay (Jon Tenney). David gets a job at Susan's friend Jackie Kerns (Paige Turco)'s realty company. Things work relatively well at first. When an elderly neighbor notices the resemblance between David and a police wanted sketch, David starts killing once again.This is a relatively professionally made B-movie. Dylan Walsh does a good creepy guy while still has that leading man look. Sela Ward is protesting too much at all the evidence. These are cookie cutter characters and not really that well thought out. Penn Badgley is not the most likable actor. And for some reason, Amber Heard is always wearing a bikini. I'm not complaining but it becomes very noticeable. In the end, this movie lacks something compelling to interest me. There is no mystery since the stepfather is shown as a serial killer right away. The movie is mapped out right from the start. The family isn't likable enough to maintain rooting interest. This is professionally made but not much more than that.