if you can think past the thirty second mark, the house of cards that is the script dissolves faster than cotton candy in the rain
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10/16/09
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The Stepfather (2009)
11
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:38
Fresh:4
Rotten:34
Average Rating:3.4/10
Consensus: This tepid remake of the 1987 cult classic lacks the tension and satirical undercurrents of the original.
Rated: 15 [See Full Rating]
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Theatrical Release:11-12-2009
Synopsis: Michael Harding (Penn Badgley) returns home from military school to find his mother (Sela Ward) happily in love and living with her new boyfriend, David (Dylan Walsh). As the two men get to know... [More]
Starring: Dylan Walsh, Sela Ward, Penn Badgley, Amber Heard
Director: Nelson McCormick
Reviews for The Stepfather
Even by horror-remake standards, The Stepfather sets the bar for pointlessness.
10/18/09
Better to honor history and rent the original.
10/18/09
If you call a film The Stepfather, then your title character -- in this case, David Harris (Dylan Walsh) -- should have the decency to marry into that perfect little family that he’s predisposed to butcher and kill.
10/22/09
100 minutes of dopey behavior and filmmaking inanity wrapped up tight in a bland, gutless PG-13 wooby, taking a proven premise and watering it down to a parade of nonsense created only to tickle gullible teen audiences.
10/15/09
This perfunctory retread had a tame, made-for-TV feel, and not just because the humdrum cast is composed of network and cable B-listers.
10/18/09
This kind of film needs a "R" rating. Making it "PG-13" leaves even horror fans yawning. And, there's not enough drama or originality to keep anyone glued to this very poor remake. Just leaves you wanting the original. Paul Chambers, CNN.
10/17/09
Shallow and inert, "The Stepfather" goes through the motions of a suspense film without ever broaching the horror genre that director Joseph Ruben employed in the original. Talk about "unclear on the concept," this remake doesn't even get the genre right.
10/18/09
The well-choreographed five-minute chase sequence offers more excitement than the rest of the movie combined. By then, it's far too late to forget the boredom suffered over the course of the rest of what's essentially a competent but dull and highly unnec
10/16/09
Substitutes an Oedipus complex for sexual menace by replacing the teenage daughter heroine of the earlier film with a hunky military school bad boy, then compounds the mistake with a bad pop/rock soundtrack and a silly action climax...
10/30/09
The Stepfather is studio-produced drivel that puts a negative label on horror movies and psychological chillers. The only pleasure to be had from watching it is to so easily be able to pick it apart.
10/16/09
The original is notable for being a breakthrough role for Terry O'Quinn, nowadays best known as John Locke on Lost. The remake is notable for nothing whatsoever.
10/16/09
Comparing the original to this one is like comparing regular basketball to donkey basketball--a perfectly good thing has been needlessly "improved" by making everything bigger and dumber and by allowing a bunch of jackasses to dump all over it.
10/16/09
Poorly scripted and executed, this quickie slasher remake suffers from weak casting and doesn't even exploit the sexual politics involved in a major gender change from the 1987 feature, which satirized the rigid family values and has become a classic.
10/16/09
The trouble with the movie, apart from its rather monotonous dourness of tone, is that everyone in the family... comes off as tougher, smarter, and quicker on the draw than the stepfather who's supposed to be outfoxing them.
10/18/09
Riddled with implausible situations, including many instances of Creepy Stepdad appearing suddenly in doorways and mirrors, and zero instances of genuine suspense or style.
10/19/09
Dylan Walsh's demeanor is more compelling than the small handful of perfunctory kill scenes, all of which you'll see from six miles away.
10/16/09
a shameless exercise in promoting the lowest common denominator
10/24/09
This remake turns a fondly remembered horror/thriller into a mild and tedious suspense film.
10/18/09
Top CriticAstonishingly dull and carefully scrubbed of all but the most sanitized violence in the name of securing a PG-13 rating.
11/03/09
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June 28, 2009:
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