The Stepfather
Short description
Jerry Blake presents himself as an ordinary, agreeable man, the kind single mothers hope to meet. He marries Susan Maine, a widow, and moves into her home near Seattle, becoming stepfather to her teenage daughter, Stephanie. What Susan does not know is that Jerry has already murdered his previous family and moved on under a new name. He is fixated on building what he considers a perfect household, and when the people around him fail to match that ideal, or when someone threatens to expose him, he turns violent. Stephanie's growing distrust of her new stepfather becomes the central conflict, pushing Jerry to keep up his false identity while his grip on it weakens.
The film was directed by Joseph Ruben, its sixth feature, arriving between Dreamscape and True Believer. Donald E. Westlake wrote the screenplay, and Jay Benson produced. Terry O'Quinn plays Jerry, with Jill Schoelen as Stephanie and Shelley Hack as Susan; Stephen Shellen and Stephen E. Miller appear in supporting roles. Made for about one million dollars, it returned roughly twice that at the worldwide box office, a modest result for a release that also played in the United Kingdom and Canada.
On TMDB it holds a 6.5 out of 10 from around 390 votes, indicating a middling but persistent reputation among viewers.
What's left behind the scenes
- A loose adaptation of the story of John List from New Jersey, who killed his own family in 1971, after which he went into hiding and remained a fugitive until 1989, when he was identified and captured after his photograph was shown on a television program a year earlier.
- When writing the character of Stephanie, screenwriter Donald E. Westlake based her on his own teenage daughter, with whom he could not find any common ground.
- The film was shot in Vancouver, Canada.
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