SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

As far as inevitable and unnecessary sequels go, the adequately acted and directed "Stepfather II: Make Room for Daddy" suffers from the fact that we've seen all of this before and will know everything that we can expect. This simply fails to bring anything new to the table. The main reason why it would work (and earn an extra point) is because the filmmakers were able to bring back the original Stepfather, the great Terry O'Quinn, to once again obsess over his search for the "perfect" family and idealized suburban life.As we see from the opening, our merry psycho has survived being shot and stabbed (naturally) and been sent to the nuthouse. Wouldn't you know it: he figures out a method of escaping and hightails it for a different area, and quickly gets up to all of his old tricks. Masquerading this time as a psychiatrist, he sets his sights on real estate agent Carol Grayland (Meg Foster), the single mother of a son named Todd (Jonathan Brandis). Assuming the identity of a "Gene Clifford", he worms his way into their lives.Too much of this is utterly predictable, including characters who seem intelligent but end up acting completely stupid. Director Jeff Burr, whose other horror sequel credits include "Pumpkinhead II" and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre III", does manage to create some suspense, and creates a few amusing touches here and there. He does the best he can with the uninspired script.Foster and Brandis are reasonably appealing, and Caroline Williams of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" fame offers an engaging presence in the supporting role of Carols' concerned friend Matty who's suspicious of Gene; Mitchell Laurance is appropriately smarmy in his brief turn as the unreliable ex-husband / father.Dedicated horror fans may derive some entertainment out of this; others are advised to stay away.Followed by another sequel, "Stepfather III" sans O'Quinn; this movies' premiere coincided with the arrest of real-life murderer John List, whose story inspired the script for the first movie.Six out of 10.

The first Stepfather film is a classic in the slasher/thriller genre thanks mainly to it's incredible performance from Terry O' Quinn, and coming back for more in this fun ride.The plot = Not all that different from before, The Stepfather now sitting comfortably in an insane asylum, breaks loose and sets his sights on a new family."Stepfather II" is a mixed bag in my opinion, although it is fun but could have been better, The plot is somewhat thin and follows too closely at times along the same path as the original film and the pacing is a little off at times, but this movie still manages to be interesting at the same time and boasts a decent cast with strong supporting performances from Meg Foster who plays the new would be wife with her stunning blue eyes and is always a delight to watch and Caroline Williams as the best friend, giving a really likable performance and has great chemistry with the cast and even the late Jonathan Brandis who plays the sun really shines in one of his early Roles, but off course is Terry O-Quinn who steals the show yet again.Another aspect I liked that this time round the body count is upped, But unfortunately lacks anything stands out and the pacing is drawn out Too much and the plot wasn't developed as well as it could have been. It Did face production constraints, but it's too similar to the original Film, but the ending was interesting, the wedding scene is definitely a Stand out and had me on the edge of my seat the entire time.All in all a decent follow up not quite on the level of the first one but overall a decent follow up, could have been a lot worse.

Terry O'Quinn reprises his role as the psychopath searching for the perfect family and willing to kill anyone who stands in his way. The first was more of a thriller while Jeff Burr's sequel is more or less a violent slasher film. Escaping from prison thanks to ridiculous means(..a psychiatrist wanting to help "rehabilitate" him, allows O'Quinn to meet with him, absent handcuffs, with the security guard waiting outside!It was an issue of trust, and O'Quinn saw fit to take advantage of such foolishness), O'Quinn uproots in a nice suburban neighborhood assuming the identity of a shrink, soon bewitching a real estate agent and her son(Meg Foster and Jonathan Brandis). Foster's husband, played by Mitchell Laurance, a dentist, took off with his receptionist and attempts to re-enter her life to the chagrin of O'Quinn. Also disrupting matters is Foster's gal pal, Caroline Williams, a postal worker who senses something's wrong about Mr. Right. Will O'Quinn allow certain people to interfere with his plans of betrothal? Or, will he solve such complications through violent means? Burr's direction is just as flashy and colorful as ever, attempting to better rather mediocre material. The movie is as predictable as they come, helped somewhat by a solid cast. Caroline Williams(..best known in Tobe Hooper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre II)has a substantial role as Foster's snooping best friend, and pays a heavy price for attempting to protect her from O'Quinn. Foster and Brandis have rather thankless roles here, more or less servicing the plot as potential victims-in-the-making. This is O'Quinn and Williams' show all the way, and Terry capitalizes on the many nuances of his character, trying to develop him despite a plot which would wish to have him just murder people like some soulless madman. Amusing use of the tune "Camptown Races", whistled, and how it plays in the undoing of O'Quinn.

"The Stepfather 2" is a slightly better sequel effort, even though it's still flawed.**SPOILERS**In a psychiatric hospital, Gene Clifford, (Terry O'Quinn) is in rehab for his past crimes, and manages to escape during a trick. Hiding in California, he takes a job as a family therapist and has a group session where he meets Carol Grayland, (Meg Foster) a single mom. When they begin to develop a friendship, along with her son Todd, (Jonathan Brandis) her friend Matty Crimmins, (Caroline Williams) decides to get involved, not completely trusting him. Able to manipulate her to believe him to marry her, which forces her into action and is able to uncover his secret. Confronted with his real plan of marrying to preserve his idea of the perfect, he goes berserk to keep it that way.The Good News: This one is a rather decent sequel. The fact that this one still has the creepy motive and back-story for the main villain is a good selling point. It still feels rather creepy and unsettling due to a rather realistic feeling that happens to come from the film. From all the alternative actions taken to ensure that, to the way that it makes the activities he does both normal-seeming and yet really creepy at the same time. That is a fun quality and it adds to the overall tone of the film. This one's best features are it's few horror moments on display. These include the few slashing moments beforehand, which is the confrontation in the house as well as the kitchen brawl later in the film. Both of these are great and a lot of fun, and mixed together with the impressive impound lot scene that has a few comedic moments in it, and these are all rather fun. The wedding, though, is all kinds of fun. From the manic stalking to the constant brawling to it's few blood-splattering moments to the sheer joy at how it ends, this is all considered into a really great sequence. These here are all that work for the film.The Bad News: This one here is really disappointing for several reasons, and most of it is due to the fact that it seems to be classified as a slasher rather than a thriller like the first one, which it really should be. There's nothing in here that is characteristic of a slasher film, since the body count is barely there, the few kills on display are barely worth talking about other than the ones mentioned before, and it never once tries to elicit a feeling of constant terror from others before the stalking at the finale. This one never tries to become a slasher, and instead of being called a thriller, which is based around the film's central gimmick and theme, this one tries to play with that rather than going for straight-out horror and all that's left is a feeling of boredom from those who expect a slasher. As a thriller, it isn't that bad, but it's still left with the fact that nothing even happens, and all that occurs before the finale is the attempts to hide the truth from those searching into the past, and these are rarely interesting. That makes this feel even more boring to those expecting a slasher, but when these events aren't that good to begin with, it lowers it to the other fans, leaving this one feeling down even more. Even worse the film plays up all the black comedy one-liners that were requisite for any mass killer anti-hero in a sequel franchise during the late 80s, with the one-liners coming in at very obvious and badly timed moments, and are just plain distracting and rarely funny. This is better than it should be, but still falls a little short.The Final Verdict: With one of the main problems that plagued the first one while also fixing one of it's key ones, this one comes out in the end slightly better. Interesting for those who enjoy the psycho-thriller genre, while slasher fans should feel a little better about it over the first one and should give it a chance.Rated R: Violence, Language and a mild sex scene