By Jerry Saravia
I first saw The Stepfather on late-night TV back in 1989. My reaction was that I had seen one of the more suspenseful, frightening thrillers in many years. The truth still holds today for what is regarded as a cult thriller with one of the most compelling, ambiguous psychopaths in a long time. The very notion that "a daddy may not be a daddy," a quote attributed to film critic David Edelstein, is certainly a scary thought. This is not a slasher flick nor is it a typical thriller. It is certainly not a monster movie or anything akin to the slasher routines of Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers. "The Stepfather" is along the lines of a story torn right out of today's headlines. In the 1980's, the headliner was John List, convicted murderer of his family who went on the run and adopted a pseudonym (story was later made into a TV movie with Robert Blake). List was later found and apprehended thanks to America's Most Wanted. The cinematic daddy Jerry is simply a tale of madness where a daddy can go nuts with a glinting knife if his wife and kids disappoint him.
The film opens and closes with the same image: a newspaper-delivering boy on a bicycle tossing newspapers at every house on the tree-lined street. One newspaper is flung at a particular house where the camera suddenly tracks into, slowly pushing in to the second floor bathroom window. A bearded man is seen with blood on his face and hands. He washes his bloody hands in the sink and mutters to himself. Slowly, he takes a suit from the suitcase, cuts his hair, shaves his beard and, presto, he looks like a new man! We see him leave the bathroom while framed photos of his family are shown on the wall. He finds a toy in the hallway and deposits it in the toy chest'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">toy chest'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">toy chest. This man descends to the main living room where we witness a savagely bloody scene - family members are left for dead and furniture is toppled over. One grisly sight is of a dead little girl on the floor clutching her teddy bear'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">teddy bear'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">teddy bear. The man leaves the house, whistles Camptown Races, grabs a newspaper and leaves while other people are seen leaving for work - notice how nobody seems to acknowledge his presence since he appears to be a normal Everyman going to work. So we shift from shadowy angles and morbid sights to the overcast morning light of day as life goes on. This sequence sets up the rest of the movie perfectly, aligning murder as a hidden reality in everyday modern suburbia. Though the alignment of such phenomenon is not entirely new (exposed with more visual panache in David Lynch's Blue Velvet one year earlier), it is still an unsettling image knowing that our own parents may have secrets that we can only dream about. His adjustment to normalcy in modern America is also fittingly disturbing - he has none of the distinguishing characteristics of a serial killer. Only his forced smile can be an indicator.
We shift one year later to a teenage girl on a bike named Stephanie (Jill Schoelen). She is on her way home when she is greeted with dried leaves flung at her by her mother, Susan (Shelley Hack). They start throwing more leaves at each other and finally reach a truce. Their friendly game is interrupted by a car honk. "Oh, Jerry is home. Come on honey" says Susan, though we see Stephanie is obviously disappointed ("Jerry is home. Hiyaa.") Now we know the name of the man we saw in the opening sequence (though it surely can't be his real name). Jerry kisses Susan and presents Stephanie with a mutt. She is delighted though she is oblivious to his reference to TV's Rin-Tin-Tin. Jerry asks her if they can give the dog a new home and she agrees. "That's my girl," says Jerry. Stephanie leaves hastily and we sense that she does not get along with this new man in her life. As she gets in the house, we see that the screen door'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">screen door does not close properly. Jerry says he has to fix it someday and thinks the puppy was a mistake. Susan's reply is, "The puppy is perfect. You are perfect."
This family life is far from perfect, and it is the first indication that Susan is blind to the man she has brought to her home. Jerry is a top-notch realtor for American Eagle Realty and firmly believes that he is really selling the American Dream (it isn't just some con). In the meantime, Stephanie sees a psychiatrist from time to time (with Jerry seen outside waiting by the car). This relationship with the psychiatrist, Dr. Bondurant (Charles Lanyer), is far healthier than the one she has with Jerry. She can confide in Bondurant of her problems with the new stepfather and with skipping and being suspended from school, blaming her own father who died a year earlier. When we see Stephanie in the car with Jerry, he tells her to stop butting heads with him and improve their relationship. He also tells her to stop screwing up in school. Next we see Stephanie engaged in a fight with another girl and getting expelled. Mr. Jerry will not stand for this nor will he see her in a boarding school as an alternative. Thus, Jerry becomes the Everyman, the one who can set things straight and solve any problem. He convinces the school principal that Stephanie is a "lost cause" who can be helped. Then we are back in the psychiatrist's office as she continues to whine about Jerry. "He scares me Dr. Bondurant. I am afraid of him." This confession startles the good doctor.
The film shifts from Stephanie's growing suspicions to the investigation of a prior murder by Jerry (the murder we see at the beginning). Jim Ogilvie (Stephen Shellen) was the brother of Jerry's formerly slain wife and now he wants to exact revenge. The police can't do much since there are no witnesses - it doesn't help that Jerry is so clever in his escape from one house to the next leaving not one shred of evidence. The newspapers will not run the photographs along with the articles. Despite a lack of support, Ogilvie persists and goes back to the crime scene to dig up something, anything, to find the family killer.
In the meantime, Stephanie is more and more convinced that Jerry is not whom he says he is. A barbecue party convinces her even more. Jerry overhears a group discussing a newspaper article of a family killer. He reads the paper, is understandably shocked and says that there is only one reason why a man would murder his family - "Maybe they disappointed him." This scene alone is a classic, showcasing Jerry's dual side perfectly. He expresses shock, disgust, and then he arches his eyebrows as he makes a telling statement. However, we do not see the group's reaction. Instead we see Stephanie's shocked reaction. Suddenly, his arching eyebrows turn to a smile worthy of Ward Cleaver. He changes the newspaper into a captain's hat and gives it to a kid, making references to Scotty's voice from Star Trek. The final nail in the coffin is when Jerry goes to the basement and yells, screams, and smashes things. He begins muttering to himself that there should be some order. He is more upset at being found out by the authorities. "We are going to keep this family together. You had better believe it," screams Jerry. Unfortunately, he is unaware of Stephanie's presence since she went to the basement to get ice cream'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">ice cream'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">ice cream. Jerry says that sometimes he needs to let off some steam. Stephanie walks away and goes back to the party. After the party has ended, she finds the newspaper and decides to find out who the murderer was. She calls the newspaper and asks for a photo, claiming she is doing a paper on mass murderers. When the photo arrives in the mail, we find it in Jerry's hands, not Stephanie's. He goes to a local photo shop and gets a new photo print. When Stephanie finally gets the mail, she is quite disappointed that it didn't turn out to be Jerry after all.
Yet another investigation takes place though it is brief. Dr. Bondurant suggests to Stephanie that he try to talk to Jerry. She hopes that the good doctor will be on her side. He calls the house but Jerry refuses to talk to him. Dr. Bondurant tries another alternative - he will pretend to be buying a house. The doctor sets up an appointment and they meet. Jerry senses right away that this guy is not interested in buying a house - he is interested in talking to Jerry. Thus, a scene of unsettling violence ensues involving a 2X4. This is the first moment of pure violence we have witnessed in almost an hour of running time. Jerry wraps the doctor's corpse in plastic and fakes an automobile accident. A problem solved quickly for Jerry who uses the incident to win some love and support from Stephanie. She cries over the doctor and hugs Jerry for support. The next day, Stephanie offers to help Jerry with one of his birdhouses and then tells him that she is sorry for her behavior. "Well, why don't we just bury the hatchet," says Jerry. He also advises Stephanie not to grow old too fast considering her interest in boys. After the birdhouse is situated, he wonders if a family of birds could live in there. Let's hope those birds don't disappoint him. (At this point, by the way, the screen door has been fixed).
Now we have a family that couldn't be happier and more homely. A Thanksgiving dinner is treated with great reverence by Jerry. "Until this moment, I never knew what Thanksgiving was really all about," says Jerry with real emotion and a butcher knife that glints. Looks like Jerry's American Dream has become a reality. For the moment. Stephanie hangs out with her friend, Paul (Jeff Schultz), who gives her a ride in his motorbike. He drops her off at her house. He kisses her goodnight. A pleasant moment until Jerry opens the door and lashes at Stephanie and Paul. He accuses Paul of rape and Stephanie tells him he is all crazy and hung-up about sex. Susan slaps her in the face for disrespecting Jerry. She runs off while Susan berates Jerry for throwing away all the progress they have made. He stares menacingly and walks to the street and, at this precise moment, we see that Jerry is disappointed by his family. He is now ready to move on.
"The Stepfather" has all the hallmarks of your average slasher film or thriller. It does have a brutal psychopath and the customary victims and the traditional violence and gore. But what distinguishes "The Stepfather" from others of its ilk is its protagonist and the family values it tries to bestow on the audience. Jerry Blake aka Henry Morrison is not a psychopath devoid of personality wearing a hockey mask and armed with a machete. He is a seemingly ordinary man who believes and promotes family values, and is always smiling and being kind to others. His love for Susan seems genuine, and he tries to make peace with Stephanie by giving her a puppy. This guy really does try but is continually disappointed. His disappointment gives way to an uncontrollable rage for murder. Stephanie sees something abnormal in Jerry whereas her mother Susan just doesn't see. Stephanie sees how Jerry acts in the basement "making faces to himself." She also sees his evil glances at the barbecue masked by his smile that could light up a room. Stephanie is simply not interested in smiling all the time and behaving as if she were in an episode of Leave it to Beaver - "I swear to God, it is like having Ward Cleaver for a dad." The tense relationship between Stephanie and Jerry is at the core of "The Stepfather," a relationship that has a cinematic equivalent in Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt. In the latter, Teresa Wright was the niece to Uncle Charley (Joseph Cotten), a similarly meek-looking counterpart to Jerry Blake who could also explode with rage. Their relationship was fraught with tension, just like Stephanie and Jerry's.
What is really at the core is what "The Stepfather" ultimately says about the importance of family in an age where old-fashioned values are ignored. Jerry Blake is the kind of man who marries widows with children. His thought process is to search for perfection - to make a family as perfect as a sitcom would from the 1950's. That he is unrealistic about such demands is barely the problem - he assumes whatever flaws exist can be eradicated to the point where they are nonexistent. If any outside forces come in to destroy the perfection, they can and will be nicely dispatched of. The most telling examples are: the newspaper of his murderous history, the psychiatrist who assumes another identity to discover Jerry's other side, Stephanie's boyfriend who just wants to kiss her goodnight, Stephanie's attitudinal urges and her violent fights in school, and, most importantly, the brother-in-law from one of Jerry's former marriages. A subtle example of dispatching any threats to the family is conveyed through dialogue. Jerry watches Mr. Ed on television while Susan seductively brushes her hair. She comes to bed and wonders why Jerry doesn't talk about his past. He says it did not exist until he met her. Then he tells her that the past is not important, what is important is the present, here and now. They make love and all talk of the past is forgotten. Nothing can intrude upon the past and nothing can get in the way of family.
One of the criticisms of "The Stepfather" is that it allows almost no insight into Jerry Blake. As New York Times critic Janet Maslin commented, "It's disappointingly thin and no full account of Jerry Blake's psychosis is ever explored." One can agree with Maslin that we have no idea who Jerry Blake is or where he comes from. Any insights into his personal background is virtually lacking. Just before the violent climax, Jerry forgets who he is: "Wait a minute. Who am I here?" That line still gives me goosebumps. Basically, we only get hints into Jerry's psychology. Dr. Bondurant assumes that Jerry had a strict upbringing based on his family needs and upholding traditions. We see that Jerry has a love for 50's television, including references to "Star Trek," "Mr. Ed," and "Rin Tin Tin." A deleted scene I caught when the film was shown in 1989 showed Jerry talking to Susan about meeting Dr. Bondurant. Susan asks him if he is afraid of psychiatry and if he has something to hide. Jerry jokes and tells her, "One of these days Susan. Bang! Zoom! Right to the Moon!," an obvious reference to "The Honeymooners." When he later makes love to Susan, we see a passionless reaction, as if he gets no pleasure from lovemaking. I love these hints and they do speak volumes, even if we still have no real clue why Jerry murders the families he marries into outside of the most casual disappointments.
"The Stepfather" was badly marketed back in 1987, advertised more as a slasher flick with Jerry brandishing a knife in silhouette. Though it did well in some markets, it fared poorly overall since it had no major stars (this was after all an independent film). Unless you are a film fan, you have no idea who Terry O'Quinn is, a journeyman actor who has appeared in a string of films in largely small roles (lately he has appeared in the X-Files film and Primal Fear). Jill Schoelen acquired some attention as the newest scream queen, later appearing in schlock like "Cutting Class" and "Popcorn" and actually leaving the business altogether to raise a family. Only Shelley Hack remains something of a known personality for having appeared in TV's "Charlie's Angels." These factors were not enough to induce any mainstream appeal. You have to remember that anything remotely resembling a slasher film in the 80's was quickly written off as a failure. Amazingly, 1987 also produced "Fatal Attraction," a hugely popular psychological thriller that ends with a bloodier ending than most slasher flicks (and admittedly left one too many loopholes). Of course, the latter had brand name actors and a director with a stronger tracking record.
But I certainly can't think of a better cast for "The Stepfather." O'Quinn gives a wonderful performance, one that shows how a psycho can mask his origins by pretending to be an all-American father with smiles and gifts of love (he would have been at home in "The Stepford Wives" or for that matter on TV's "Leave it to Beaver"). Schoelen shows a strong sympathetic side, and her clever intuitions as a Nancy Drew type show that smart, alert teenagers are more interesting than dumb ones. Shelley Hack has a thankless role but she has her own mask - her naivete. When it is finally exposed and she sees for the first time who Jerry Blake really is, we see that her love was blind and wish she would have caught the warning signs sooner. Also the underlying moral (and not just to women) seems to be a clear warning: do not marry hastily until you know for sure who you are marrying.
Crisply written by crime novelist Donald E. Westlake, photographed with autumnal colors and a subtle TV look by John Lindley ("Pleasantville") and directed with the flair and style of a Hitchcockian student by Joseph Ruben, "The Stepfather" is one of the classiest, scariest and most suspenseful thrillers since Hitch's own "Psycho." Its shock is never knowing when family man Jerry Blake may crack under pressure if his family does not meet his standards. When he utters the words, "Whom am I here?," it sends a chill to the bone. The sequels never did it justice. "The Stepfather" is in a class all by itself.
Maslin, Janet. 1987. "Review of the Stepfather." N.Y. Times, May 8.
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