The Stepfather (1987)

Growing up I always looked at other kids whose parents were divorced and thought how crappy it would be to have some complete stranger move in and pretend to be your new “parent”, especially in the role of the father. Here’s some complete stranger living in your home and sleeping with your mom, all the while hitting you just a little to hard on the shoulder while calling you “sport”. Now if I saw the “The Stepfather” back when I had these fears in my head, I probably would have sworn my mother to be an old maid the rest of her life, or at least till I moved out of the house! Terry O’ Quinn portrays a psychopathic nut in search of the “perfect family”. When a family begins to disappoint him and fails to live up to his delusional “Father Knows Best” ideals, he simply murders the family and moves on to a new one. “The Stepfather” is a stark contrast to the majority of slasher films that were out at the time. Here we actually get strong characters and an intriguing story, while the violence is brutal but never gory. O’Quinn’s performance really steals the show, going from Ward Cleaver to Hack You With a Cleaver in a nanosecond. The scenes of O’Quinn flipping out in the basement are truly chilling, and I loved the parts where his character gets confused as to what name he’s going by, since he’s changed his persona so many times. The supporting cast is also decent, and there are thankfully no stereotypical “victim” characters to be found. An overall classy and suspenseful thriller, this one is highly recommended. By the way, while watching this one I could not help but to laugh to myself as I pictured this one as one of those “Lifetime” movies. You know, psycho dad, victimized woman...ah, never mind.