Michael returns home from military school to find his mother happily in love and living with her new boyfriend. As the two men get to know each other, he becomes more and more suspicious of the man who is always there with a helpful hand.
Well here we are with the inevitable remake, something, that in my opinion, was not needed.
During the time of this film’s release we saw quite a few remakes being brought out by Hollywood so when this film was released it drew the usual groans from fans that are unavoidable in today’s internet age and I admit I was one of them.
When you watch this feature now, you realise it’s full of cliches that we’re used to seeing in remakes, that you might have missed first time round. It made me laugh that they cast Amber Heard as eye candy to draw in more viewers, I always take this as a sign of weakness, they didn’t have a-lot of faith in the story.
Talking of the story there’s nothing that’s really been changed much, it’s basically the same story that’s just been modernised (I’d loved to have been a fly on the wall for that meeting). It’s just so predictable that I find it extremely boring, it isn’t helped that the script is weak as is the acting. No one looks happy to be doing this film and it just screams lazy and sloppy work.
Director Nelson McCormick had already done a remake, “Prom Night”, the fact that these two films are his only full length feature releases speaks for itself. He has a fruitful career in TV work and hasn’t returned to film since and I hope ne never oes.
“The Stepfather” is another addition in a long line of bad remakes, when will Hollywood learn?
Miscellaneous facts about the film:
There was a scene in the trailer in which a buzz saw swings back and forth mere inches away from a character’s face but was cut from the film for pacing reasons, it was heavily used in multiple advertising materials.
Dylan Walsh, Jessalyn Gilsig, and director Nelson McCormick all worked on the FX show Nip/Tuck. Gilsig also worked with McCormick on his previous remake Prom Night (2008).
Braeden Lemasters, who plays Penn Badgley’s younger brother in this movie, played Penn Badgley’s younger self in Easy A (2010).
Want more Horror? Click on the links below:
Raz’s Midnight Macabre Facebook page (HERE)
Raz’s Midnight Macabre Blog page (HERE)
