The Stepfather (1987)

4 / 5
Tagline: Daddy's Home and He's Not Very Happy
Directed By: Joseph Ruben
Written By: Carolyn Lefcourt, Brian Garfield, Donald E. Westlake
Actors Include: Terry O'Quinn, Jill Schoelen, Shelley Hack
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Length: 89 minutes
Banned: nope
Country: USA

Review:
This was actually a lot more interesting and cooler than the box led on (which is a rare thing indeed). I rented it as a youngster, and liked it so much I even watched the less than decent sequels. Surprisingly after watching this as an adult I think I liked it just as much then as I do now. It's not one people mention very often and it's not the easiest to find, but you will be greatly rewarded if you do. The story is about a man named Jerry who just happens to be on the prowl for the "perfect family". He's married several times, but when things don't work out (ie they don't listen to him) he tends to bump off the family and move on to a new one. We pick up with Jerry as he's found a new family (the Maines) but he didn't count on the daughter to be suspicious and curious. Well this has good character development and it feels rather creepy, and the way it's done this family is slowly starting to discover who Jerry is and from there things only get worse. It's actually quite well done, interesting and it makes most of the right moves. It's not really a "slasher" style film and there isn't tons of blood but the story makes a solid point and it's pretty entertaining overall. This is one of those horror films which it feels could actually happen, and the thought of that is actually enough to make this one of the better efforts, especially in the late '80s.