The Stepfather

El padrastro

1987 · United States · 89 min

Director: Joseph Ruben
Screenplay: Donald E. Westlake
Music: Patrick Moraz
Cinematography: John Lindley
Editing: George Bowers
Production company: ITC Entertainment

Awards: Sitges Film Festival Best Actress award

What the critics say

88 % Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews

Cast

Blu Mankuma

Terry O'Quinn

Shelley Hack

Stephen Shellen

Jill Schoelen

Gabrielle Rose

Gillian Barber

Robyn Stevan

What it is about

A man slips out of his house after a brutal event and resurfaces a year later under a new identity: Jerry Blake, a real estate agent who marries a young widow, Susan Maine, and settles in a Seattle suburb. Her sixteen-year-old daughter Stephanie distrusts him from the start and begins to suspect he is hiding a dark past. The film builds a tale of domestic suspicion, as the teenager and the man under her roof watch each other with mounting tension.

How it was made

The film drew on the crimes of John List, who killed his own family and changed his identity. Carolyn Lefcourt found a newspaper article about the case and brought it to Brian Garfield; Donald E. Westlake worked with them on the story and wrote the screenplay. ITC Entertainment hired Joseph Ruben after his work on Dreamscape, and he and Westlake polished the script and added scenes such as the basement sequence. Ruben turned the investigating cop into Jim Ogilvie, the brother of one of the victims, to give him a personal reason to pursue Jerry. According to Ruben, several name actors turned the role down, and Terry O'Quinn won the lead in an audition. Filming began in Vancouver in October 1985.

Reception and legacy

The Stepfather was released in the United States in January 1987 and grossed 2.5 million dollars at the box office. Critics responded well, and over time it built a cult following. It spawned two sequels, Stepfather II (1989) and Stepfather III (1992), and a 2009 remake with the same title. O'Quinn's performance earned the Best Actress award at the Sitges Film Festival, and the character is often cited as a notable example of the era's slasher cinema.