The Stepfather is an American thriller of 2009, a remake of the 1987 film of the same name . The director of the picture is Nelson McCormick [1] , and the main roles were played by Penn Badgley, Dylan Walsh and Sila Ward [2] . The original film was directed by Joseph Ruben, scripted by Donald Westlake. The events of the picture were partially based on the crimes of John List .
| Stepfather | |
|---|---|
| The stepfather | |
 | |
| Genre | thriller |
| Producer | Nelson McCormick |
| Producer | Mark Morgan Greg Murdiyan |
| Author script | Jay S. Cardon |
| In the main cast | Dylan Walsh Strength Ward Pann Badgley Amber Heard John Tenney |
| Operator | Patrick Cady |
| Composer | Charlie close |
| Film company | Screen gems |
| Duration | 101 minutes |
| Budget | $ 20 million |
| Fees | $ 31,178,915 |
| A country |  USA |
| Tongue | English |
| Year | 2009 |
| IMDb | ID 0814335 |
Content
Story
The film begins with a scene in which a man named Grady Evans tidies himself up in the bathroom. He shaves his beard, dries his hair, removes contact lenses. Then he goes down with a suitcase, makes himself a coffee and a peanut butter sandwich. When a man leaves the house, the camera shows the bodies of a woman and her three children.
Susan Harding is shopping with her youngest children and meets Grady, who introduces himself as David Harris and tells the story of how he lost his wife and daughter in a car accident. He captivates her, and six months later they are engaged. Meanwhile, Susan's eldest son, Michael, is returning home from a military school.
Michael's first suspicions about David appear when a man calls the wrong name, remembering his daughter. When an elderly neighbor tells Susan that David looks like a serial killer, who is being sought by police throughout America, a man sneaks into the woman’s house and kills her. David soon got into a hassle with Susan's ex-husband, Jay, after David left bruises on the body of his youngest son, Sean. At the same time, Susan realizes that she knows almost nothing about David, besides, it seems strange to her that he refused to work as a realtor in order not to give his photo for paperwork. Then David kills Jay, who has decided to get to the bottom of the truth about David's personality.
When two weeks later they find the body of a neighbor, Michael has new suspicions. Michael's girlfriend, Kelly, is trying to distract her lover from these thoughts, but the couple are only quarreling. Susan's sister, Jackie, decides to hire a private investigator to learn more about David, and then David kills the woman. Meanwhile, Michael finds his father's body in the refrigerator in the basement of the house. David attacks Kelly and locks Michael in the basement. Hearing the noise, Susan wakes up and sees David acting strangely. Soon, she realizes that David is the killer, hiding in the bathroom, and then attacks him with a piece of glass. At this point, Michael gets out of the basement, finds Kelly and his mother. David comes to his senses and chases three to the attic. A fight starts between David and Michael, and they both fall from the roof, losing consciousness.
Michael wakes up in a hospital, where he is told that he was in a coma for a month, and David ran away before the police arrived. In the last scene, David appears before the audience in a new guise. He meets a single woman, calling himself Chris Ames.
Cast
- Dylan Walsh - Grady Edwards / David Harris / Chris Ames
- Strength Ward - Susan Cairns Harding
- Penn Badgley - Michael Harding
- Amber Heard - Kelly Porter
- Sherry Stringfield - Leah
- Paige Tarko - Jackie Cairns
- John Tenney - Jay M. Harding
Filming
Terry O'Quinn , who played the title role in the first two films of the series, was offered a cameo role, however, according to producer Mark Morgan, the actor refused the offer [3] [4] .
The distribution of the film was done by Screen Gems [5] . Filming ended April 15, 2008 [6] .
Release
The picture was released at the box office on October 16, 2009 [7] .
Box office fees
The film was on the 5th line according to the results of collections, having collected $ 11 581 586 in 2 734 cinemas, $ 4 236 each on average [8] . With a budget of $ 20 million, fees in the United States and Canada amounted to $ 29,062,561 and $ 2,023,025 at international box office. Total fees amounted to $ 31 178 915 [9] .
Criticism
The film received extremely negative reviews.
Rotten Tomatoes noted that 12% of 58 critics gave the picture a positive rating, with an average rating of 3.4 points out of 10. Main comment: "This remake suffers from a lack of tension and a satirical component of the original 1987" [10] . Metacritic assigned the film 33 rating units based on 11 reviews [11] . Despite this, Kevin Thomas of The Los Angeles Times wrote: “A pleasant and thoughtful movie that gradually forms horror in you thanks to confident acting, psychological certainty and good dialogue” [12] .
Video Output
Sony Pictures Entertainment has released a film on DVD and Blu-ray in a special enhanced directorial version with extended and deleted scenes. Also, the publication included a film about the shooting of the picture [13] .
Notes
- ↑ Director talks missing STEPFATHER action unopened (inaccessible link) . Date of treatment June 3, 2012. Archived October 21, 2009.
- ↑ The Stepfather (2009) Full Cast & Crew List
- ↑ Interview: Never Back Down's Amber Heard . Cinemablend. Date of treatment July 17, 2009. Archived September 23, 2012.
- ↑ How Dylan Walsh makes the new Stepfather a killer remake . Sci-Fi Wire. Date of treatment July 18, 2009. Archived September 23, 2012.
- ↑ FROM the FILES of FANGORIA: I Guess You Are My Real STEPFATHER unopened (link not available) . Date of treatment June 3, 2012. Archived October 23, 2009.
- ↑ The Stepfather (2009; Film Review) (unavailable link) . Date of treatment June 3, 2012. Archived October 18, 2009.
- ↑ The Stepfather Remake Comes Home
- ↑ Weekend Box Office Results for October 16–18, 2009 . Box Office Mojo (October 18, 2009). Date of treatment November 1, 2009. Archived September 23, 2012.
- ↑ The Stepfather (2009) . Box Office Mojo . Date of treatment March 8, 2010. Archived September 24, 2012.
- ↑ The Stepfather (2009) . Rotten Tomatoes . Flixster Date of treatment March 8, 2010.
- ↑ The Stepfather (2009): Reviews . Metacritic . CNET Networks . Date of treatment March 8, 2010. Archived September 24, 2012.
- ↑ 'The Stepfather' Movie Review , Los Angeles Times , Tribune Company (October 17, 2009). Archived on October 20, 2009. Date of treatment November 1, 2009.
- ↑ The Stepfather remake DVD Artwork
Links
- Official site
- Stepfather on the Internet Movie Database