Written by Donald E. Westlake
Directed by Joseph Ruben
Starring Terry O’Quinn, Jill Schoelen and Shelley Hack
USA
When I saw “written by Donald E. Westlake” in the opening credits, I knew I was in for a treat. Westlake is one of the many paperback crime fiction authors I enjoy reading. I never realized he wrote movies, too, though it makes sense. And THE STEPFATHER plays like a page turner.
The great thing about this movie, aside from Terry O’Quinn’s performance as the stepfather, which is superbly creepy, is that you know for a fact from the very beginning what’s going on. There’s no question – this guy murdered his whole family, changed his identity, and is now moving on to insert himself into a whole new family – this time a widow with a teenage daughter. The teenage daughter doesn’t trust him, and we know she shouldn’t – but no one in the movie does.
So, it’s fun to watch as the daughter goes from just sorta not liking the guy to investigating his background, putting some things together, beginning to think she might really be on to something – all while everyone else tells her she’s crazy, get over it, move on. When’s this guy going to get exposed? Will he?
You also get to see the stepfather’s MO unfold – as soon as he feels like he’s done with this family, he begins to set up his next identity and potential family before leaving, cultivating a new job and relationship in another town while continuing his life with his current family. What a creep.
So, this is a nice, simple, efficient thriller – just like a Donald E. Westlake paperback.
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