Maybe they disappointed him?!
The Stepfather returns!
This was a pretty good sequel, I thought.
There are not many times when a sequel is nearly as good as the original, but I think that Jeff Burr pulled it off nicely!
What I like about this one is that the films picks up where the first finished. Jerry (well, no-one really knows his real identity), is locked away. He soon escapes and resumes back to his old ways of finding another family.
It's kind of a love-hate relationship with this character, because as intense and as much of a psychopath as he can become, Terry O'Quinn, makes the character really likeable in a twisted way.
At heart, he has family values, and he wants to live the american dream of the perfect, loving family, but each time, his new potenial family goes wrong and things end badly.
That said, it's a fun and entertaining movie.
Terry turns in another wonderful, yet psychotic performance (I say that with a smile on my face!), and another excellent performance by Meg Foster and Johnathan Brandis (R.I.P).
A must see- because you wouldn't want to disappoint him, would you?
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First movie was a hard act to follow
...but at least Terry O'Quinn stuck around for this one. Jerry Blake's latest fiancee in this film is played by Meg Foster, an actress who has always given me the creeps for some reason. I was actually rooting for Jerry Blake to kill her.
FOR SOME STRANGE REASON this sequel is on DVD and the original is not. Go figure. Are the ownership or distribution rights to the first one in dispute or something?
The first one RULES! Great psychological horror and a career-defining performance by O'Quinn. And director Joseph Ruben would go on to make some other great films, including "Return To Paradise" with Anne Heche and Vince Vaughn.
As for "Stepfather 3"... ignore it except for the fact that O'Quinn's replacement is Robert Wightman who actually does a very very good job replicating O'Quinn's mannerisms, body language, facial expressions, speech patterns, voice, etc. It is more imitation than acting, maybe, but he's very good at it.
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A Surprising Good Sequel...Terry O'Quinn Owns Role...
THE STEPFATHER was one of the most minor but great horror films to come out in 1987. Terry O'Quinn fit the role perfectly, and the rest of the cast, while not all filling their roles to a tee, nonetheless supported him well, making his character all the more believable in his psychotic rage. Now, I saw STEPFATHER 3 before this one, and I wasn't impressed with the third one and don't plan on owning it anytime soon. But there was one reason I bought this DVD and decided to give STEPFATHER 2 a chance: Terry O'Quinn.
You might all remember the end of the first film, as Jerry Blake (O'Quinn's character in part 1) brutally attacked his wife and daughter, having been disappointed that they are not "perfect". He was starting to make another life for himself, but he failed and ended up being stabbed at the end by Stephanie. Did the Stepfather survive the chaos? You better believe he did, thanks to some surgery and healing of medicine. I was hoping for good things with STEPFATHER 2.
We pick up with the Stepfather (in the first frame still Jerry Blake) in a psychiatric institution, a little hair loss and a dream of the events from the prior film. We find that the Stepfather still likes to build houses out of wood, but not so much birdhouses anymore. He's seeing a psychiatrist and at first you feel bad for him because he looks like a poor schmuck the first time he sits in for a session. Ah, but you know by now this guy means business, and he makes a plan to escape, and he does...killing the psychiatrist and bludgeoning the security guard in his wake. He walks off the ground while in the background the alarm at the facility sounds off, marking an escape and panic ensues...all while our Stepfather calmly strolls off the grounds a free man. Now Jerry decides its time for a change, so he checks into a hotel, gets his hair back and changes look again, and starts to plan his next move (I was laughing because the bellboy never saw the picture on the paper...is it that obvious you're serving a killer?). He sees a dream house show on tv, and Palm Meadows seems like a good place to land his next life. He also picks his next identity in the form of family therapist Gene Clifford.
We pick up sometime later down in California near L.A., and Gene is looking at a house with beautiful real estate agent, Carol Grayland. After mentioning that she is divorced, and with son, well, our Stepfather is up to his old tricks again. He starts a session with divorced/troubled women and things seem to start off right for Gene. He has a new home; he meets a new woman; he even gets admiration from her son, Todd. Things seem to be going good, and even Carol's best friend, Matty (the sexy Caroline Williams), likes Gene. However, things suddenly change when Carol's ex-husband shows up to reconcile...and that just isn't sitting well with Gene, and instantly it triggers a reaction. He goes to the garage and starts cutting and throwing wood on his trusty saw-board device, and we see echoes of the first film in his presence of anger. But when snoopy Matty shows up looking around, she begins to suspect Gene isn't really who he claims to be. She starts to snoop through his mail, eventually finding a "letter" that triggers her suspicion confirmation. All the while, Gene kills off Phil after meeting with him to talk about his reconciliation with Carol. He checks Phil out of his hotel, puts his things in the trunk with his body, and then drives his car to a junkyard smashing it around and then casually leaving whistling his fave Camptown Races (this is going to be a fatal flaw later). Things seem to get better again, until Matty finds out about Gene and then summons him for a meeting in the park, which ultimately leaves our stepboy a bit off. He makes love to Carol before leaving to kill off Matty and then brings back a bottle of wine. He sets Matty's death up like a suicide, but a blind man is the only witness to Gene's diabolical deed. Things start to go downhill a bit and Gene begins to worry his wedding day is in jeopardy. And on the big guy's big day, things do take a turn for the worse. After Carol sees the wine bottles, and then hears her son whistling Camptown Races, Gene is exposed, and the mayhem ensues, with the Stepfather once again being killed by a courageous child and a strong but battered mother. Poor Stepfather, his intentions are admirable but his methods of getting there are far from conventional.
The acting in the movie is mostly typical, but Terry O'Quinn is once again masterful as the evil stepdad out for another "perfect" family. He conveys the character so well...he was built for this role and, thanks to his performance, the movie is memorable. Meg Foster and Jonathan Brandis are also good, and surprisingly, Brandis isn't annoying...the kid can act and he put on a good show. Meg Foster's eyes are creepy, but she's pretty so you'll forgive that. The violence isn't obvious, but it's there and what we see still makes you cringe. The movie as a whole isn't as gripping as the first, but it still makes a very good sequel...entertaining, suspenseful at times, and never cartoon-ish.
STEPFATHER was an entertaining cult hit. STEPFATHER 2 manages to convey some of the first's power and execution, and thanks to Terry O'Quinn, manages to be memorable for the most part. Sadly, O'Quinn would not return for the third entry, and so the pale Robert Wightman was chosen to replace him. Avoid the third sequel like the plague and, instead, watch the first film, and this entertaining sequel. But in watching, you'd better "make room for daddy!"
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