A 2009 remake of the 1987 thriller film of the same name, The Stepfather seeks to cash in on the popularity of the Gossip Girl TV series as it sets Penn Badgley in a starring role (Gossip Girl’s Dan Humphrey) with Amber Heard playing the role of his on-screen girlfriend (who looks a huge amount like his Gossip Girl co-star Blake Lively here).
The film begins with David Harris (Dylan Walsh) leaving a family home behind, leaving three dead children and their mother in his wake; he now looks to find his next victims and ultimately sets his sights upon single mother Susan Harding (played by Sela Ward). As Susan’s son Michael (Penn Badgley) returns home from military school, events occur that make Michael suspicious of his new stepfather, and although not everyone is behind him in his suspicions, Michael seeks to discover the truth about his secretive new stepfather and find out what it is that his mother’s new love seems to be hiding.
The Stepfather is at all times watchable and is certainly not a bad film as a piece of entertainment, with its predictable and extremely clichéd plot it’s certainly not a classic of its genre, however, and although it may nicely pass 100 minutes of your time if you’ve nothing better to do on an evening, there are certainly much better thrillers out there than this one. The film doesn’t set out to reinvent the wheel and has its fair share of plot holes and inconsistencies, if you’re willing to just accept it as a light, throwaway piece of entertainment though then you may just find that you quite enjoy watching this one.
Dylan Walsh’s performance as David Harris is most definitely an impressive one here as he performs his incredibly sinister role superbly well; he’s extremely convincing as his creepy character with a huge murderous secret to hide, and Walsh most definitely steals the show with his impressive acting style throughout the film. The other performances are all fairly forgettable and none of the rest of the cast really provide much in the way of a memorable performance, Walsh’s performance as the stepfather is definitely worth watching though and he most definitely plays the part to perfection.
If you’re a fan of the thriller genre then there’ll be nothing particularly new for you here, if you’re looking for a light piece of entertainment though then you could definitely do a lot worse than watching The Stepfather. Whilst the film is unlikely to massively shock or surprise you, it’s still a fairly entertaining offering from director Nelson McCormick, a man who is probably better known for directing TV shows than he is for directing feature films.
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
