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Reviews Counted:55
Fresh:6
Rotten:49
Average Rating:3.4/10
Consensus: This tepid remake of the 1987 cult classic lacks the tension and satirical undercurrents of the original.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating]
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Theatrical Release:Oct 16, 2009 Wide
Box Office: $29,062,561
Synopsis: Michael Harding (Penn Badgley) returns home from military school to find his mother (Sela Ward) happily in love and living with her new boyfriend, David (Dylan Walsh). As the two men get to know... [More]
Starring: Dylan Walsh, Sela Ward, Penn Badgley, Amber Heard
Director: Nelson McCormick
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100 minutes of dopey behavior and filmmaking inanity wrapped up tight in a bland, gutless PG-13 wooby, taking a proven premise and watering it down to a parade of nonsense created only to tickle gullible teen audiences.
The original was a no-frills, psychology-based affair that got most of its juice from the conflict between the dad and his suspicious stepdaughter, but the new one is needlessly complicated and more overt.
A pointless, dumbed-down remake of a slasher movie of the same name.
Mercilessly talky and deathly dull, this bloodless, sex-less misfire plays more like a housewife-baiting telemovie than the taut, teen-centric psycho-thriller it’s supposed to be.
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.
Cliché-ridden and full of plot-holes.
McCormick's lacklustre reboot is just another indistinguishable psycho thriller.
It has some good moments but there are much better relationships you could be having at the cinema than with The Stepfather.
The new version is serviceable, bland and forgettable.
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.
I didn't think anyone could match Terry O'Quinn's riveting performance in the 1987 film, but Dylan Walsh nails the title role in this remake.
If you call a film The Stepfather, then your title character -- in this case, David Harris (Dylan Walsh) -- should have the decency to marry into that perfect little family that he’s predisposed to butcher and kill.
As characters get startled but you don't and you suspenselessly wait for everyone to figure out what we realized long ago (Mr. Harris kills people, then 105 minutes of your life), you may well wonder about the bloody point of it all.
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.
Shallow and inert, "The Stepfather" goes through the motions of a suspense film without ever broaching the horror genre that director Joseph Ruben employed in the original. Talk about "unclear on the concept," this remake doesn't even get the genre right.
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.
...yet another toothless and entirely needless horror-movie remake.
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.
The Stepfather is studio-produced drivel that puts a negative label on horror movies and psychological chillers. The only pleasure to be had from watching it is to so easily be able to pick it apart.
October 15, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Where the Wild Things Are Is A Wild Rumpus
This week, we've got a wild rumpus (Where the Wild Things Are, starring Max Records and Catherine Keener), a legal skirmish (Law Abiding Citizen, starring Jamie Foxx and Gerard... More...
October 02, 2009:
New: Brand New Trailer and Poster 
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July 04, 2009:
A killer remake! The Stepfather set visit report.
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June 28, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review
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