The Stepfather

Step-Parents seem to get a bad rap in horror movies, they're always evil!  Is there no such thing as a nice step-parent??  What about Mr. Brady, I'm beginning to wonder what he was doing there in his study while at that drawing board!  What sort of evil plans was he really drawing up?  Makes you think, don't it?  Well, the new remake of The Stepfather, might just answer that question.

Basically, The Stepfather is about a serial killer, or more specifically, what the FBI refers to as a 'family annihilator', someone who doesn't just kill one person, they wipe out the whole damned family!  Well, meet David Harris, a guy so normal that it's...well, abnormal!  We meet David when he's leaving his house for the last time, leaving his family behind...after he's killed them!  So, we're pretty sure what's going on with David right from the start.

David moves to Portland where he 'happens to run into' Susan, a divorcee with 3 kids, David immediately begins ingratiating himself to her and the kids...I think we can all see where this is going, can't we?  Well, when Susan's oldest son (a teenager who's at least 28!) moves back home from military school (showing us that he's a non-conformist and isn't afraid to challenge authority), he begins to suspect that something's just not right with David..or maybe that's, somethings is just too right with David to be normal.

So, we enter a battle of wills between step-son and psychotic step-father, and guess who has the upper hand?  In the end, we're left with a movie that barely offers any tension, let alone scares!  This is just more of the same PG-13 horror that's aimed at the 'Twilight' crowd, there's no horror here among the horror, unless you're 10 years old, then you might be scared...for a minute!

I'm giving The Stepfather 1 out of 4 cigars, it's not scary, it offers no surprises or tension in any way and is just one more example of why I really shouldn't rent horror movies that are rated PG-13!  Hey, tweens, stick with the Twilight vampires and you'll get to enjoy horror when you turn 18...it's something for you to look forward to!  Save yourself some money and rent the original The Stepfather starring Terry O'Quinn instead, it's grittier, more scary and just a better movie!

The Stepfather