The Stepfather | |
---|---|
![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Joseph Ruben |
Screenplay by | Donald E. Westlake |
Story by |
|
Produced by | Jay Benson |
Starring | |
Cinematography | John W. Lindley |
Edited by | George Bowers |
Music by | Patrick Moraz |
Production company | |
Distributed by | New Century Vista Film Company [1] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 89 minutes |
Country | United States [1] |
Language | English |
Box office | $2.5 million (US) [2] |
The Stepfather is a 1987 American psychological horror film [3] directed by Joseph Ruben and starring Terry O'Quinn, Jill Schoelen, and Shelley Hack. O'Quinn stars as an identity-assuming serial killer who marries a widow with a teenage daughter. Having killed his previous family and changed his identity, his murderous tendencies continue after his stepdaughter becomes suspicious of him. The film is loosely based on the life of mass murderer John List, [4] although the plot is more commonly associated with slasher films of the era. The film was written by Donald E. Westlake, from a story by Westlake, Carolyn Lefcourt and Brian Garfield (the latter of Death Wish fame), with an uncredited rewrite by David Loughery.
The film was theatrically released in the United States on January 23, 1987. It grossed $2.5 million at the box office and was well-received by critics. It has since gained a cult following and was followed by two slasher sequels, Stepfather II (1989) and Stepfather III (1992), and a remake, also called The Stepfather , released in 2009.
Henry Morrison washes off blood in a bathroom, changes his appearance, puts his belongings into a suitcase, and leaves through the front door of his house, nonchalantly passing the butchered remains of his family. Boarding a ferry, he throws the suitcase containing the items from his former life overboard. One year later, Henry—now a real estate agent named Jerry Blake—has married the widow Susan Maine and is living in a suburb of Seattle. Jerry's relationship with Susan's 16-year-old daughter Stephanie is strained. She's suspicious of Jerry's intentions, but Susan and Stephanie's psychiatrist, Dr. Bondurant, urge her to give Jerry a chance.
Meanwhile, Jim Ogilvie, the brother of Jerry's murdered wife, runs an article about his sister's death in the newspaper and attempts to find the man who killed her. While hosting a neighborhood barbecue, Jerry discovers the article and is disturbed by it. He goes into the basement and begins shouting maniacally, unaware that Stephanie is also in the room. Discovering his stepdaughter, Jerry claims he was simply letting off steam and tells her not to worry. Stephanie finds the article about the earlier killings and decides her stepfather might be the murderer. She writes to the newspaper requesting a photo of Henry Morrison, but Jerry intercepts it in the mail and replaces it with a stranger's photo, allaying her suspicions.
Curious about Stephanie's stepfather, who has refused to meet him, Dr. Bondurant makes an appointment with Jerry under an assumed name, saying he wants to buy a house. During their meeting, Bondurant asks too many personal questions and Jerry realizes that Bondurant is not who he says he is. Believing Bondurant is investigating him, Jerry beats him to death, puts him in Bondurant's car, and sets the car on fire. Jerry later informs Stephanie of Bondurant's death, claiming he was in a car accident, and succeeds in bonding with her. However, Jerry's newfound relationship with his stepdaughter is cut short when he catches her kissing her boyfriend Paul. Jerry angrily accuses Paul of attempting to rape Stephanie, driving Paul away. Stephanie also runs off when Susan says Jerry is her father, she denies it, and Susan slaps her. The next day, Jerry quits his job and starts creating a new identity for himself in another town. He begins courting another widow while planning to get rid of Susan and Stephanie.
Having figured out the town where Jerry could be living, Jim begins going door to door in search of his former brother-in-law. After Jim stops by, Susan phones the real estate agency to tell Jerry that someone was looking for him, only to be informed that Jerry quit several days ago. Susan asks Jerry about this, but while explaining himself to Susan, he confuses his identities. Realizing his mistake, Jerry bashes Susan on the head with the phone and pushes her down the basement stairs. Assuming Susan is dead, Jerry sets out to kill Stephanie.
Jim, who has realized that Jerry is the man who killed his sister's family, arrives wielding a revolver, but Jerry stabs him to death before Jim can shoot him. After terrorizing Stephanie, Jerry corners her in the attic, only to fall through the weak floor into the bathroom. Before he can kill Stephanie, Susan appears and shoots Jerry twice, but he is still able to reach his knife. Stephanie wrests it away and stabs him in the chest. He weakly utters "I love you" before tumbling down the stairs. Stephanie later cuts down a birdhouse that she and Susan had helped Jerry install.
The film was inspired by the crimes of John List. Lefcourt found a newspaper article about how List killed his own family and brought it to Garfield. Westlake collaborated with them to write the story and based his screenplay on that. [1]
Filming started on October 16, 1985 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and by July 1986 the film was in post-production searching for a distributor company. Eventually The Stepfather gained a deal with New Century Vista Film Corporation. [5] [6]
The film was released on DVD for the first time in North America by Shout! Factory on October 13, 2009. [7] Shout! Factory released the Blu-ray version of the film on June 15, 2010.
The Stepfather was initially marketed as a psychological thriller. When audiences did not respond to this as well as New Century would have liked, they marketed it as a slasher film. [1] The film was theatrically released in the United States on January 23, 1987. During its opening weekend, The Stepfather grossed $260,587 in 105 theatres. Ultimately playing in 148 theatres, it earned a total US gross of $2.5 million. [2]
The Stepfather has an 89% approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes and an average rating of 7/10 out of 35 reviews. [8] Film critic Roger Ebert with the Chicago Sun-Times gave the movie 2.5 stars out of 4 and wrote, "Violence itself seems to sell at the box office, even when it's divorced from any context. Maybe that's what the filmmakers were thinking. What often happens, though, is that in an otherwise flawed film there are a couple of things that are wonderful. The Stepfather has one wonderful element: Terry O'Quinn's performance." [9]
Terry O'Quinn was nominated for both a Saturn and an Independent Spirit Award. O'Quinn came in third place in the voting for the 1987 National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor. Director Ruben was honored with the Critics Award at the 1988 Cognac Festival. [10] The film was nominated for the International Fantasy Film Award for Best Film at the 1990 Fantasporto, [11] and included in Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments at spot #70. [12]
Describing it as a cult film, Scott Tobias interprets the film as a critique of Reaganism. [13]
Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
---|---|---|---|
Saturn Award [14] | Best Actor | Terry O'Quinn | Nominated |
Critics Award | Joseph Ruben | Won | |
Edgar Award | Best Motion Picture | Donald E. Westlake | Nominated |
International Fantasy Film Award | Best Film | Joseph Ruben | Nominated |
Independent Spirit Award | Best Male Lead | Terry O'Quinn | Nominated |
National Society of Film Critics Award | Best Actor | Terry O'Quinn | 3rd place |
Young Artist Award | Best Young Actress in a Horror Motion Picture | Jill Schoelen | Nominated |
Young Artist Award | Teenage Favorite Horror/Drama Motion Picture | The Stepfather | Nominated |
The film was followed by the sequel Stepfather II in 1989, which opened to negative reviews. The TV movie Stepfather III was released in 1992, with the title character played by another actor.
A remake titled The Stepfather was released in 2009 to negative reviews.
Places in the Heart is a 1984 American drama film written and directed by Robert Benton. It stars Sally Field, Lindsay Crouse, Ed Harris, Ray Baker, Amy Madigan, John Malkovich, Danny Glover, Jerry Haynes and Terry O'Quinn. The film follows Edna Spalding, a young woman during the Great Depression in Texas who is forced to take charge of her farm after the death of her husband and is helped by a motley bunch.
The Good Son is a 1993 American psychological thriller film directed by Joseph Ruben and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It was written by English novelist Ian McEwan. Its story follows a 12-year-old boy named Mark who, after the death of his mother, is sent to stay with his aunt and uncle while his father is away on a business trip. While there, he meets his cousin Henry, who shows signs of violent and evil behavior. It stars Macaulay Culkin, Elijah Wood, Wendy Crewson, David Morse, Daniel Hugh Kelly, and Jacqueline Brookes.
Terrance Quinn, known professionally as Terry O'Quinn, is an American actor. He is best known for his Primetime Emmy Award-winning performance of John Locke on the TV series Lost (2004–2010). In film, he's also known for playing the title role in The Stepfather (1987) and Howard Hughes in The Rocketeer (1991) with roles in other films such as Heaven's Gate (1980), Silver Bullet (1985), Young Guns (1988), Blind Fury (1989), Tombstone (1993) and Primal Fear (1996).
I Not Stupid is a 2002 Singaporean comedy film about the lives, struggles and adventures of three Primary 6 pupils who are placed in the academically inferior EM3 stream. Written and directed by Jack Neo, and produced by Mediacorp Raintree Pictures, the film stars Huang Po Ju, Shawn Lee, Joshua Ang, Cheryl Desiree Chan, Xiang Yun, Jack Neo, Richard Low and Selena Tan.
The Phantom of the Opera is a 1989 American horror film directed by Dwight H. Little and based on Gaston Leroux's novel of the same name. The film is an updated and gorier version of Leroux's classic tale and stars Robert Englund as the titular character. The film was a critical and commercial failure.
Slaughter High is a 1986 slasher film written and directed by George Dugdale, Mark Ezra and Peter Litten, and starring Caroline Munro, Simon Scuddamore, Carmine Iannaconne, Donna Yeager, and Sally Cross. An international co-production between the United States and the United Kingdom, the film follows a group of adults responsible for a prank gone wrong on April Fool's Day who are invited to a reunion at their defunct high school where a masked killer awaits inside.
Twisted Nerve is a 1968 British psychological thriller film directed by Roy Boulting and starring Hywel Bennett, Hayley Mills, Billie Whitelaw and Frank Finlay. The film follows a disturbed young man, Martin, who pretends, under the name of Georgie, to be intellectually impaired in order to be near Susan, a girl with whom he has become infatuated. Martin kills those who get in his way.
Brian Francis Wynne Garfield was an Edgar Award-winning American novelist, historian and screenwriter. A Pulitzer Prize finalist, he wrote his first published book at the age of eighteen. Garfield went on to author more than seventy books across a variety of genres, selling more than twenty million copies worldwide. Nineteen were made into films or TV shows. He is best known for Death Wish (1972), which launched a lucrative franchise when it was adapted into the 1974 film of the same title.
Cutting Class is a 1989 American black comedy slasher film directed by Rospo Pallenberg in his directorial debut, written by Steve Slavkin, and starring Donovan Leitch, Jill Schoelen, Brad Pitt, Roddy McDowall, and Martin Mull. It was Pitt's second major role, after The Dark Side of the Sun.
Stepfather II is a 1989 American horror film directed by Jeff Burr and written by John Auerbach. It is a sequel to The Stepfather (1987) and stars Terry O'Quinn as the title character. The cast includes Meg Foster, Caroline Williams, and Jonathan Brandis.
The Stepfather is a 2009 American psychological horror film directed by Nelson McCormick. It is a remake of the 1987 film of the same name which was loosely based on the crimes of mass murderer John List. The film stars Dylan Walsh, Sela Ward, Penn Badgley, Amber Heard and Jon Tenney.
Jill Marie Schoelen is an American actress. She is best known for Chiller (1985), The Stepfather (1987), Cutting Class (1989), The Phantom of the Opera (1989), Popcorn (1991), Rich Girl (1991), and When a Stranger Calls Back (1993). For her numerous horror film appearances, she is widely regarded as a scream queen.
Amityville: A New Generation is a 1993 American direct-to-video supernatural horror film directed by John Murlowski. It is the seventh film based on The Amityville Horror, and stars Ross Partridge, Julia Nickson-Soul, Lala Sloatman, David Naughton, Richard Roundtree, and Terry O'Quinn.
On the Edge of Innocence is a 1997 television drama film directed by Peter Werner. It stars Kellie Martin as a manic-depressive teenager.
Popcorn is a 1991 American slasher film directed by Mark Herrier and written by Alan Ormsby. It stars Jill Schoelen, Tom Villard, Tony Roberts, Dee Wallace, and Derek Rydall. The plot follows a group of college students holding a film festival, where they are then stalked and murdered by a deranged killer inside a movie theater.
Blood Rage is a 1987 American slasher film directed by John Grissmer, written by Bruce Rubin, and starring Louise Lasser, Mark Soper, and Julie Gordon. Set on Thanksgiving, the film follows a woman and her adult son who are stalked at their remote apartment community by the son's unhinged twin brother who has escaped from a psychiatric institution after allegedly murdering a man years earlier.
Ryan O'Quinn is an American film, television and voice actor, producer, author and comedian.
Highway Dragnet is a 1954 American film noir B film crime film directed by Nathan Juran from a story by U.S. Andersen and Roger Corman. The film stars Richard Conte, Joan Bennett and Wanda Hendrix. It was Roger Corman's first feature film credit. Corman also worked as an associate producer.
Stepfather III is a 1992 American horror film directed and written by Guy Magar. It stars Robert Wightman, Priscilla Barnes, David Tom, and Season Hubley. It is the second sequel to the 1987 film The Stepfather and a follow-up to the 1989 film Stepfather II. The film follows a serial killer seeking out another family to become a part of, using plastic surgery to disguise himself from the authorities. Unlike the previous two installments, Stepfather III was released made-for-television and Terry O'Quinn does not star in the title role.
Right to Kill? is a 1985 American made-for-television drama film directed by John Erman and written by Joyce Eliason. It is based on a true story of two teens living in Wyoming, Richard Jahnke and Deborah Jahnke, who were charged for the killing of their psychotically abusive father, Richard Jahnke, Sr.
This tale of a man searching for the 'perfect family' is a very well-done psychological horror film that is driven by the star of the film, Terry O'Quinn. The prologue shows him sporting curly hair, a beard, and glasses and of course covered in blood.