Simply A Masterpiece

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

The first must-see film of the year.

Seeking new blood after "The Stepfather" (1987), marriage-minded Terry O'Quinn (as Jerry Blake) escapes from a Washington insane asylum and takes on the identity of a cozy Southern California psychiatrist. Feeling neighborly, Mr. O'Quinn (as Gene F. Clifford) warms up attractive divorcée Meg Foster (as Carol Grayland) and cute skateboarder son Jonathan Brandis (as Todd). After O'Quinn gets rid of young Brandis' returning father Mitchell Laurance (as Phil Grayland), it looks like a new family will form, but Ms. Foster's suspicious pal Caroline Williams (as Matty Crimmins) smells a rat... ***** Stepfather II (11/3/89) Jeff Burr ~ Terry O'Quinn, Meg Foster, Caroline Williams, Jonathan Brandis

I liked the highly regarded original, but wasn't particularly wowed over by it. As sequels go, "Stepfather II" is quite unnecessary, but an entertainingly fine and well done addition nonetheless by genre director Jeff Burr with the likes of a earnest Meg Foster, a scene-stealing Caroline Williams and Terry O'Quinn shinning again with that creepy intensity brimming from his calculative performance making the film larger than it truly deserves. Gone is the slow-winding, low-key suspense of the original replaced with unpleasantly over-the-top violence and darkly wry humour in a more straight-forward slasher style, as it goes to show the lengths this committed family man would go to end up with the desirably perfect family (life), but this would also go onto help with his own downfall. After escaping a psychiatric institution, Gerald 'Jerry' Blake heads to "Palm Meadow Estates" to rebuild his ideal family in the disguise of a family psychiatrist Dr. Gene Clifford. There he catches the eye of his real estate agent Carol Grayland and her young son, but whenever a certain obstacle gets in the way of his tailored dream he reverts back to what he knows best. Director Jeff Burr's bright handling makes able headway, as it's snappily paced and there are some spontaneous touches amongst its systematic narrative. The ominous music score is titillatingly arranged in drawing in the high strung tension and twisted jolts.

Terry O'Quinn reprises his role as the psychopath searching for the perfect family and willing to kill anyone who stands in his way. The first was more of a thriller while Jeff Burr's sequel is more or less a violent slasher film. Escaping from prison thanks to ridiculous means(..a psychiatrist wanting to help "rehabilitate" him, allows O'Quinn to meet with him, absent handcuffs, with the security guard waiting outside!It was an issue of trust, and O'Quinn saw fit to take advantage of such foolishness), O'Quinn uproots in a nice suburban neighborhood assuming the identity of a shrink, soon bewitching a real estate agent and her son(Meg Foster and Jonathan Brandis). Foster's husband, played by Mitchell Laurance, a dentist, took off with his receptionist and attempts to re-enter her life to the chagrin of O'Quinn. Also disrupting matters is Foster's gal pal, Caroline Williams, a postal worker who senses something's wrong about Mr. Right. Will O'Quinn allow certain people to interfere with his plans of betrothal? Or, will he solve such complications through violent means? Burr's direction is just as flashy and colorful as ever, attempting to better rather mediocre material. The movie is as predictable as they come, helped somewhat by a solid cast. Caroline Williams(..best known in Tobe Hooper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre II)has a substantial role as Foster's snooping best friend, and pays a heavy price for attempting to protect her from O'Quinn. Foster and Brandis have rather thankless roles here, more or less servicing the plot as potential victims-in-the-making. This is O'Quinn and Williams' show all the way, and Terry capitalizes on the many nuances of his character, trying to develop him despite a plot which would wish to have him just murder people like some soulless madman. Amusing use of the tune "Camptown Races", whistled, and how it plays in the undoing of O'Quinn.

"The Stepfather 2" is a slightly better sequel effort, even though it's still flawed.**SPOILERS**In a psychiatric hospital, Gene Clifford, (Terry O'Quinn) is in rehab for his past crimes, and manages to escape during a trick. Hiding in California, he takes a job as a family therapist and has a group session where he meets Carol Grayland, (Meg Foster) a single mom. When they begin to develop a friendship, along with her son Todd, (Jonathan Brandis) her friend Matty Crimmins, (Caroline Williams) decides to get involved, not completely trusting him. Able to manipulate her to believe him to marry her, which forces her into action and is able to uncover his secret. Confronted with his real plan of marrying to preserve his idea of the perfect, he goes berserk to keep it that way.The Good News: This one is a rather decent sequel. The fact that this one still has the creepy motive and back-story for the main villain is a good selling point. It still feels rather creepy and unsettling due to a rather realistic feeling that happens to come from the film. From all the alternative actions taken to ensure that, to the way that it makes the activities he does both normal-seeming and yet really creepy at the same time. That is a fun quality and it adds to the overall tone of the film. This one's best features are it's few horror moments on display. These include the few slashing moments beforehand, which is the confrontation in the house as well as the kitchen brawl later in the film. Both of these are great and a lot of fun, and mixed together with the impressive impound lot scene that has a few comedic moments in it, and these are all rather fun. The wedding, though, is all kinds of fun. From the manic stalking to the constant brawling to it's few blood-splattering moments to the sheer joy at how it ends, this is all considered into a really great sequence. These here are all that work for the film.The Bad News: This one here is really disappointing for several reasons, and most of it is due to the fact that it seems to be classified as a slasher rather than a thriller like the first one, which it really should be. There's nothing in here that is characteristic of a slasher film, since the body count is barely there, the few kills on display are barely worth talking about other than the ones mentioned before, and it never once tries to elicit a feeling of constant terror from others before the stalking at the finale. This one never tries to become a slasher, and instead of being called a thriller, which is based around the film's central gimmick and theme, this one tries to play with that rather than going for straight-out horror and all that's left is a feeling of boredom from those who expect a slasher. As a thriller, it isn't that bad, but it's still left with the fact that nothing even happens, and all that occurs before the finale is the attempts to hide the truth from those searching into the past, and these are rarely interesting. That makes this feel even more boring to those expecting a slasher, but when these events aren't that good to begin with, it lowers it to the other fans, leaving this one feeling down even more. Even worse the film plays up all the black comedy one-liners that were requisite for any mass killer anti-hero in a sequel franchise during the late 80s, with the one-liners coming in at very obvious and badly timed moments, and are just plain distracting and rarely funny. This is better than it should be, but still falls a little short.The Final Verdict: With one of the main problems that plagued the first one while also fixing one of it's key ones, this one comes out in the end slightly better. Interesting for those who enjoy the psycho-thriller genre, while slasher fans should feel a little better about it over the first one and should give it a chance.Rated R: Violence, Language and a mild sex scene