The Stepfather is a 2009 American thriller/slasher film directed by Nelson McCormick. It's a remake of the 1987 film of the same name.
Michael Harding (Penn Badgley) returns home from military school to find his mother Susan (Sela Ward), happily in love with a mysterious man known as David Harris (Dylan Walsh), whom Michael doesn't quite get along with. Together with his girlfriend Kelly Porter (Amber Heard), and his father Jay (Jon Tenney) they begin to suspect David is not quite the man he claims to be.
Provides examples of:
- Adaptational Villainy: The stepfather, who comes across as much more of a cold-blooded sociopath here compared to his predecessor, who was probably insane.
- Asshole Victim: Jay, Michael's deadbeat dad who walked on them, ends up being one of the victims after he confronts David.
- Big Bad: The eponymous stepfather, who keeps marrying into families and killing them when they fail to meet expectations.
- Bittersweet Ending: Michael, Kelly, and Susan survive David's wrath, but David gets away and is last seen charming a new family to kill. Plus, what's to say David/Grady won't tie up loose ends and eventually go after the Hardings?
- Bloodless Carnage: Due to its PG-13 status. He kills all his onscreen victims via some form of oxygen deprivation.
- Bury Your Gays: Jackie, though the fact that she's a lesbian is only made clear shortly before her death.
- But Not Too Gay: It's only pretty close to the end of the film that we realize Jackie and Leah are lovers, and not just roommates or something.
- Call-Back: The film has a lot of references to the original 1987 film . Surprising, considering it was made by the same people who brought us the When a Stranger Calls and Prom Night remakes, both of which are borderline In Name Only.
- Cat Scare: As Mrs. Cutters is looking for an intruder in her home, a cat jumps into frame and delivers a shrill meow. Right after, David reveals himself and kills her by pushing her down the stairs.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: One of the early signals David is bad news is his odd anger outbursts, such as the time he Neck Lifted Sean when he didn't obey Susan.
- He Knows Too Much: Mrs. Cutters, Jackie and Michael get targeted by the Stepfather simply because they began to suspect him and were getting too close to the truth.
- Here We Go Again!: The Stepfather survives being taken out by the Hardings and is seen introducing himself to a new single mother with young boys some time later...
- Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: The opening of the film is set sometime around Christmas.
- Guess Who I'm Marrying?: "David" is introduced as some kind of Serial Killer who murdered his old family, and when we next see him, he and Susan are together.
- I Have Many Names: David is actually just one of the many names The Stepfather adopted over the years in order to begin his life anew with a new family. We only learn about two others: Grady Edwards and Chris Ames. His real name is never learned.
- Internal Reveal: The opening scene already shows that "David" is something of a Serial Killer who killed his previous family, with the rest of the film following Michael's efforts into finding out about "David" and preventing his family from suffering the same fate.
- It's All About Me: Susan, so much so that she seems overly obnoxious compared to most other examples on that page. Her oldest son is unhappy with the stepfather and her best friend, ex-husband, and even an old lady down the street try to point out the oddities in her new husband's behavior, but she refuses to hear anything bad about the man, always countering the arguments with how good he is to her, how happy he makes her. Its actually quite possible she wasn't really oblivious to the warning signs so much as deluding herself into ignoring them.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Susan's ex-husband Jay may not seem to be the most upstanding guy, but he was absolutely within his right to confront David, albeit violently, upon learning he inappropriately laid his hands on Sean.
- Karma Houdini:
- The Stepfather survives, gets away and is last seen charming another single woman with kids.
- Susan was never called out, or even felt remorse, for ignoring all the warning signs that her fiancé is a serial killer and thus leading to the deaths of a neighbor, her ex-husband, and her sister. The closest thing she ever got was almost getting killed. Though considering that the word possibly have gotten out that her fiancé is a serial killer and that she was indirectly responsible for the deaths of those three, chances are that she will eventually.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Mrs. Cutter. David knocks her down a flight of stairs, and then asphyxiates her in a way (holding her nose and mouth shut while wearing gloves) that leaves no evidence, so investigators are left to assume that she died from the fall.
- Military School: The movie starts with Michael coming home after being sent away to a military school by his mother for unspecified "bad behavior".
- Mr. Fanservice: The handsome Michael gets endless shots of him shirtless, usually by the poolside.
- Ms. Fanservice: Kelly is a Head-Turning Beauty wearing a revealing bikini in half of her scenes.
- Never Trust a Trailer: That awesome swinging buzzsaw scene that was in all the trailers and TV spots? It's completely absent from the film.
- No Name Given: David Harris is only one of the many names The Stepfather has used in his life, whatever his real name is, it is never revealed.
- Parental Abandonment: Jay walked out on his family years before the start of the film, and Michael still resents him for it.
- Parental Sexuality Squick: Michael is disturbed by the sounds of his mother and stepfather having sex and uses headphones and loud music to drown them out.
- Pater Familicide: The Stepfather is a Serial Killer who moves from family to family, and kills all of them after they start disobeying him.
- Police Are Useless: Obviously, but what sets them apart from the others is the fact that they couldn't catch a severely injured man crawling away when they were a few feet away.
- Serial Killer: The Stepfather has killed many families in the past.
- Sexy Discretion Shot: One scene has David and Susan kissing in bed before the scene fades to black, implying the kissing will turn into something more intimate.
- Sexy Surfacing Shot: A Pool Scene with Kelly and Michael ends with a shot of her climbing out of the pool in her bikini, with her even pointing out that he's Eating the Eye Candy.
- Shower Scene:
- David is introduced showering the gore off after disposing of his previous family.
- One late scene shows Michael stepping out of the shower and wrapping himself in a Modesty Towel, before being startled by David's intrusion.
- Slashed Throat: During the final confrontation, Susan slashes the Stepfather in the neck with a glass shard, but it ends up not being deep enough to be fatal.
- Soft Glass: Michael smashes a window with his elbow, but doesn't get cut at all, and the sleeve of his hoodie remains intact, without even a few glass shards to show for it.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: "Silent Night" and a more "hardcore" rendition of "Happy Together" appear during less-than-peaceful moments.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: The Stepfather constantly scares people by showing up behind them out of nowhere.
- Too Dumb to Live: Susan cannot take a hint that her fiancé is a murderer to save her life. Neighbor claiming she saw his face on America's Most Wanted? Susan passes it off as someone else. Ex-husband saying that Susan's youngest son was throttled by her fiancé? She briefly scorns him about it and doesn't bring it up again. note Her sister tells Susan that her fiancé left as soon as he had to fill out some employment forms, Susan laughs it off. You know you have a dumb as shit character when she does not get the message when her fiancé is pointing a knife at her, along with a whole bunch of weapons laid out on the table, saying that she should punish her son more, then ask, "Who Am I here?". Mother of the year.
- Toplessness from the Back: There's a brief shot of Leah's bare back as she is getting into the shower while talking to Jackie.
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: The films are loosely based on the crimes of mass murderer John List, who killed his family, fled to Virginia, assumed another identity, remarried and wasn't caught for eighteen years.
- Wicked Stepfather: The eponymous Stepfather is a Serial Killer and the main antagonist of the film.
- Would Hurt a Child: David Neck Lifts the young Sean for playing video games with the volume too loud.
