Stepfather (2009)

Stepfather: Directed by Nelson McCormick. With Dylan Walsh, Sela Ward, Penn Badgley, Amber Heard. Michael Harding (Penn Badgely) returns home from military school to find his mother Susan (Sela Ward) happily in love and living with her new boyfriend David (Dylan Walsh). As the two men get to know each other, he becomes more and more suspicious of the man who is always there with a helpful hand.

“u0026quot;The Stepfatheru0026quot; is a remake of the 1987 cult classic by the same name staring Terry Ou0026#39;Quinn. The story begins with Michael Harding (Penn Badgley) returning home from military school to find his mother (Sela Ward) happily in love and living with her new boyfriend, David (Dylan Walsh). As the two men get to know each other, Michael becomes more and more suspicious of the man who is always there with a helpful hand. Is he really who he says he is or could David be hiding a dark side ? Along with his girlfriend Kelly (Amber Heard), his father Jay (Jon Tenney), and Susanu0026#39;s friends (Paige Turco and Sherry Stringfield), they slowly start to piece together the mystery of the man who is set to become his stepfather, but they may be too late in getting to the truth… In the last decade weu0026#39;ve witnessed a lot of remakes and spin offs, most of them unnecessary, and thatu0026#39;s the case with this film. And the reason why it is unnecessary, is because it doesnu0026#39;t add anything to the original besides a groovy soundtrack. The film doesnu0026#39;t really have a voice of its own, instead itu0026#39;s almost a play by play remake with a few differences to make it up to date. Despite being unnecessary, this remake is still quite enjoyable, however, it doesnu0026#39;t have the subtlety of the original and also Terry Ou0026#39;Quinn was much better as a protagonist then Dylan Walsh. Ou0026#39;Quinn had more charisma and delivered his lines with much more impact. And then thereu0026#39;s a few things that drag the film down, like the sexualization of Amber Heard ( numerous shots of the young actress in her bikini and underwear, which I wouldnu0026#39;t mind, had it been done more tastefully instead of being a deliberate attempt to please the male audience), plus the poorly done makeovers of David and the lesbian subplot which made absolute no sense to me and seemed out of place. Despite all this, The Stepfather is still a nice little thriller and quite enjoyable, just know that the original is far better.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e6/10”