The Stepfather: Critic Reviews

The trouble with the movie, apart from its rather monotonous dourness of tone, is that everyone in the family... comes off as tougher, smarter, and quicker on the draw than the stepfather who's supposed to be outfoxing them.

A clumsy remake of the 1987 cult thriller.

It's all very silly, but effective popcorn entertainment.

Better to honor history and rent the original.

This perfunctory retread had a tame, made-for-TV feel, and not just because the humdrum cast is composed of network and cable B-listers.

It's hard to get absorbed in a story with so many unresolved issues.

That last stormy night of violence should be the shocker. Giving away his ruthlessness in earlier killings robs the movie of it its payoff as it saps the climax of much of its power.

This remake turns a fondly remembered horror/thriller into a mild and tedious suspense film.

The Stepfather is that rarity, an effective remake of a screen classic that can stand alone on its own considerable merits.

Horror remake has more tension than blood.

Any subtlety or implicit social satire to be found in Joseph Ruben's original went out with the last neighborhood trash pickup. Too bad the service was canceled before it could haul away this waste-of-time remake. [Blu-ray]

The new version is serviceable, bland and forgettable.

Lazy, predictable and seriously lacking in shocks.

Nelson McCormick is ridiculously lax with inventive or plausible staging: it's the kind of movie where a door can't open without thunderclaps and the bad guy flinging himself into the frame.

It has some good moments but there are much better relationships you could be having at the cinema than with The Stepfather.

The Stepfather is watchable enough in a good bad movie sort of way but the finale is disappointing and it fails to improve on the original film.

If the movie's attic-bound climax is a little predictable and the plot holes rather gaping, The Stepfather, unlike many of its more prestigious A-class competitors, is never less than entertaining.

A pointless, dumbed-down remake of a slasher movie of the same name.

McCormick's lacklustre reboot is just another indistinguishable psycho thriller.

Uninspiring and, crucially, not all that scary. There are no attempts either to explore the killer's motivation and none of the original's black humour.

Fond memories of Joseph Ruben's thrillingly unpleasant B-movie of 1987 will be offended by this bland and almost blood-free remake.

The Stepfather is full of unintentional laughs, shameless plot contrivances and cheap scare tactics, but this adds to the fun once you've tapped into the risible nature of the production.

There's mayhem all over the place and not a policeman, or much logic, in sight. Watchable nonsense, with performances better than the story deserves.