Living as a single parent is a lot healthier
David Harris is a killer. He’s a unique killer, though. Harris finds his way into single-mother families, settles in and then proceeds to kill everyone. After killing everyone, he changes himself and moves on to another family in another town. He’s precise, cunning and never let’s a family get away. Things change, though, as Harris finds himself with a new family, but this time around he has underestimated the oldest son, Michael. Michael has to figure out who Harris is before something terrible happens to his family. The question begs, will Michael be able to reveal Harris before Harris catches on?
There’s not a lot to this film. If you’ve seen the original The Stepfather then you understand what to expect out of the movie. Sure it has its tense moments and sure, as an audience member, you already know who Dylan Walsh’s character is before he gets to ‘new’ family (it’s established at the beginning of the film as it shows him walking out on a family of dead folks on Christmas). The problem with this remake is that all the actors, sans Walsh, don’t really get involved with the film’s storyline. I know that sounds crazy, but they simply aren’t terrified enough or surprised enough to make this film as suspenseful as the original. I’m not sure if it was poor casting or bad screenplay, but this movie doesn’t work as well as the first film of the same name.
There are tense moments in the film, but they only last so long and they don’t really carry over and build as the movie moves forward. It’s as if the movie that was suppose to be terrifying and terror filled just seems a bit bland and slow. For example, when things start to become undone in Harris’ plans you don’t really feel a sense of urgency to get the family out of the house or to escape. It’s an odd way for a thriller/suspense/terror genre film to make the viewer feel, but that’s how it goes.
Anyway, the film seems poorly executed, the casting seems a bit off, the writing doesn’t do justice to the original and the directing isn’t as good as it could been. The only saving grace for this film is that Dylan Walsh plays a good psycho. I hope Walsh gets more roles, as he is completely unappreciated for his acting range.
The good side to this movie is that the blu-ray version of it is really quite good. The visuals are pretty darn gorgeous in HD. I’m happy and surprised to see that a film that didn’t do so hot in the theaters was treated so well in the transfer. The audio helps out as well with the broken suspense. I was overall impressed with the blu-ray portion of this movie.
As for features, here’s what you’re looking at:
– Commentary with Penn Badgley, Dylan Walsh and Nelson McCormick
– “Open House: Making the Film” Featurette
– “Visualizing the Stunts” Featurette
– Gag Reel
– Theatrical trailer/TV Spots
There are some pretty good features here. They enhance the movie’s drabness and provide understanding with how the director/cast/crew were viewing the film as they were making it. The intentions seemed to be good, but the execution just didn’t live up to the intentions. The gag reel is rather amusing as well.