“Who Am I Here?” The posters and trailers famously heralded for the psychopath-family-swapper The Stepfather. Or not so famously, I guess, considering the film made a paltry 2.4 million at the box office. Yet, The Stepfather was one of the few horror films actually saved by the critics, garnering plenty of top ten mentions and even a surprise nomination by the Independent Spirit Awards for Terry O’Quinn as lead actor. That buzz helped drive a very successful run on video – so successful that a follow-up hit theatres two years later, with O’Quinn again as the lead. That one impressively made less than the sum of the paltry original, but still, a third O’Quinn-less sequel followed in 1992. Although box office performance certainly doesn’t indicate it, there’s a public fascination with the everyman gone berserk. The first film was based on the true story of John List, who eventually became an early America’s Most Wanted staple. It’s the kind of thing you watch on television questioning how someone so normal could ever do something so heinous. At a time when slashers were going supernatural and becoming increasingly unrealistic, The Stepfather again cut through the white picket fences that Halloween had ten years prior to again make suburban America unlikely targets for terror. All this filmed in Canada, no less.
Now, 22 years after its original release, The Stepfather is again being revived by the remake train. It’s tough to imagine much of a following existing for this modest original since it’s largely remained unreleased for over a decade. Buena Vista released the second film on DVD, but surprisingly the first that started it all hadn’t even made the leap to digital as of 2009. VHS has been the only way to see The Stepfather (and the third film, for those counting) but thankfully just in time for the remake Shout! Factory is presenting this little sleeper with a new anamorphic transfer and some cozy extras. Is it worth bringing home, or is this fodder for foster families?
Click here to read the full review at HORRORDIGITAL.COM
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