Stepfather II
| Stepfather II | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Jeff Burr |
| Written by | John Auerbach |
| Produced by | William Burr Darin Scott Carol Lampman |
| Starring | Terry O'Quinn Meg Foster Caroline Williams Jonathan Brandis |
| Cinematography | Jacek Laskus |
| Edited by | Pasquale Buba |
| Music by | Jim Manzie |
| Distributed by | ITC Entertainment[1] Millimeter Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 93 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1.5 million |
Stepfather II (also known as Stepfather II: Make Room for Daddy) is a 1989 American horror film directed by Jeff Burr and written by John Auerbach. It is a sequel to The Stepfather (1987) and stars Terry O'Quinn as the title character. The cast includes Meg Foster, Caroline Williams, and Jonathan Brandis.
Stepfather II received a limited theatrical release on November 3, 1989, and grossed $1.5 million at the box office. It received negative reviews from film critics.
A sequel, Stepfather III, was released in 1992.
Plot
After surviving being shot and stabbed at the end of
In Palm Meadows, Gene poses as a psychiatrist and soon meets Carol Grayland and leases a house across the street from her and her 13-year-old son Todd. During a session with the neighborhood wives, Gene learns that Carol's husband Philip left his family the previous year. Gene begins courting Carol, eventually winning over her and Todd, but Phil returns, wanting to reconcile with his wife. Needing Phil out of the way, Gene persuades Carol to send him over for a meeting, during which Gene smashes a bottle on his head then stabs him to death. He covers up Phil's disappearance afterward by making it look like he simply ran off again. With Phil gone, Gene and Carol arrange to get married.
Matty Crimmins, local mail carrier and Carol's best friend, becomes suspicious of Gene and begins looking through Gene's mail. She finds a letter addressed to the real Gene Clifford (which includes a photograph revealing him to be
Despite Matty's death, the wedding proceeds as planned. While dressing in the church, Carol recognizes bottles of wine sent by Matty's parents as the same brand Gene had the other night, and overhears Todd whistling "Camptown Races", which he says Gene taught him. Thinking Gene may have had something to do with Matty's death, Carol confronts him, prompting Gene to attack Carol and Todd, whom he locks in a storage closet. As Gene prepares to kill Carol with a knife she used to stab him, Todd breaks out of the closet and saves his mother, knocking the knife out of Gene's hand and stabbing him in the chest with a claw hammer, apparently killing him. As Carol and Todd walk into the wedding ceremony, everyone is shocked to see them covered in blood until Carol collapses on the floor. The film ends with Gene getting up, stumbling through the room for the wedding party and collapsing on the floor by the destroyed wedding cake, weakly uttering "Till death...", then seemingly dying from his wounds. In the extended version, after Carol and Todd are sent to recoveries, the scene shows that they are finally living happier and confident without Gene as they enjoy playing together in the park.
Cast
- Terry O'Quinn as Jerry Blake / Gene F. Clifford / The Stepfather
- Meg Foster as Carol Grayland
- Caroline Williams as Matty Crimmins
- Jonathan Brandis as Todd Grayland
- Henry Brown as Dr. Joseph Danvers
- Mitchell Laurance as Phil Grayland
- Miriam Byrd-Nethery as Sally Jenkins
- Leon Martell as Ralph "Smitty" Smith
- Renata Scott as Betty Willis
- John O'Leary as Sam Watkins
- Glen Adams as Salesman
- Eric Brownas Hotel Attendant
- Bob Gray as Choir Singer
- Rosemary Welden as Video Date
Production
Development
After a test screening of the film, studio executives Harvey and Bob Weinstein complained about the lack of blood and demanded re-shoots. Jeff Burr refused and director Doug Campbell was hired to do the reshoots. In an interview, Burr commented, "they cut a little bit of [the film] out and they added some badly done blood effects. Badly done, because Terry O’Quinn refused to do it. Really, they were meaningless, so that was irritating."[2]
Release
Home media
After the film's theatrical release, it was released on VHS by
Reception
Box office
Stepfather II was originally intended to be released
Critical response
The film received mostly negative reviews, with a 14% approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes and an average rating of 4.40/10 based on 7 reviews.[7] Variety stated "this dull sequel reduces the intriguing premise of the original Stepfather to the level of an inconsequential, tongue-in-cheek slasher film".[8] Richard Harrington of The Washington Post wrote that the film was cliche-ridden and lacked the reality-rooted horror that made the original film effective, finishing his review by stating "Stepfather 2 is just slick marketing trying to capitalize on unsettling art - and failing badly, at that".[9]
References
- ^ Stepfather II company credits at The New York Times
- ^ http://www.iconsoffright.com/IV_Burr.htm ICONS Interview with Director Jeff Burr
- ^ "Synapse's Stepfather 2 DVD, Sick Girl art, etc". Fangoria. Archived from the original on 2009-05-05. Retrieved 2009-04-29.
- ^ "Synapse Announces 'Stepfather II' DVD". Bloody-Disgusting. 2 June 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-09.
- ^ "Company Credits for Stepfather II". imdb.com. Retrieved 2011-04-10.
- ^ "Stepfather II". boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2011-04-10.
- ^ "Stepfather II (1989)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2019-10-28.
- ^ "Stepfather II". Variety. 1989-01-01. Retrieved 2009-07-16.
- ^ "Stepfather II (R)". The Washington Post. 1989-12-06. Retrieved 2009-07-16.
