The Stepfather – 1987, Canada/US, 89m. Director: Joseph Rubens.
Stepfather 2: Make Room for Daddy – 1989, US, 93m. Director: Jeff Burr.
Stepfather 3 – 1992, US, 105m. Director: Guy Magar.
THE STEPFATHER (1987) Clean-cut suburbanite Jerry Blake (Terry O’Quinn) is a loving family man by day—and a psychopathic killer by night. When things get too disagreeable on the home front, Jerry takes a knife to his wife and kids, changes his identity, and marries into a new family with the prospect of turning them into the American Dream. A slip of the tongue at a neighborhood barbecue sends Jerry into a rage witnessed by his new stepdaughter (Jill Schoelen)—which eventually escalates to murder. A slick and chilling film, The Stepfather relies on suspense (especially in the white-knuckle climax) to make its story work, which is highlighted by a genuinely scary performance by O’Quinn. The film was whitewashed into a kid-friendly remake in 2009 featuring Nip/Tuck‘s Dylan Walsh as the stepfather. O’Quinn returned to the role a few years later in Stepfather 2 but smartly bailed before the concept turned into another gimmicky slasher series with the inevitable Stepfather 3. B+
STEPFATHER 2: MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY (1989) Serial monogamist Jerry Blake (Terry O’Quinn) survived his stab wounds at the end of Stepfather 1 and now resides in a high-security hospital where, after unloading a bunch of hogwash on his psychiatrist, kills the man and escapes to California. Posing as a marriage counselor, Jerry immediately sets his sights on pretty divorcee Meg Foster as his next bride-to-be—that is until Foster’s ex comes back into the picture, which has Jerry bringing out the cutlery. Suspense is replaced with a higher body count as Jerry annihilates half of the cast with knives, needles, glass bottles, and an industrial car crusher (although the film is relatively low key in the gore department). O’Quinn is good but has little to do other than feed into audience’s expectations of his character turning into another quip-throwing slasher madman. The film’s director, Jeff Burr, would go on to helm Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3. C+
STEPFATHER 3 (1992) Everyone’s favorite psychopathic stepdad is back in this less-than-stellar made-for-cable sequel featuring The Waltons‘ Robert Wightman in the title role previously occupied by Terry O’Quinn. Still obsessed with the idea of creating the perfect family unit, mass murderer Jerry Blake (Wightman) undergoes facial reconstructive surgery—his survival and escape from the events of Stepfather 2 are never explained—and changes his identity to Keith Grant. Pretending to be a gardener, Grant eventually courts and marries suburban single mom Priscilla Barnes and her wheelchair-bound son (David Tom), whose hobby (and foreshadowing) is solving internet murder mysteries. Barnes’s ex comes sniffing around and Grant takes a shovel to his noggin before burying him under a flower bed in the backyard. When things get too hot under the collar at home, Grant plans his next marital project with new-in-town divorcee Season Hubley, and plots the murder of Barnes and Tom. Grant’s actions are thwarted by Tom who, in the incredulous climax, manages to lift himself out of the wheelchair and toss Grant into an industrial wood chipper—and sparing the world from having to endure a Stepfather 4. C–