Movie Review #56: Stepfather II (1989)

 

Alright! I think I need to call attention to Mr. Jeff Burr and the films he's directed because this will be the third one I've talked about all month. I do not know why I felt like re-watching so many of his movies but hey here we are! I don't think this was intentional! I forgot he directed this movie! Anyway Jeff was born in 1963 and directed his first movie, Divided We Fall, at only age 18/19. It all depends if the movie was done before July 18th, his birthday. He made his second feature in 1987 called From a Whisper to a Scream, with Vincent Friggin Price! Anything that man is in is a classic. I haven't seen it in a very long time but I remember really liking it. Then the sequel floodgates opened. In 1990 he directed Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III. I remember thinking that was the worst Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie at the time (which was before the shitty remakes and prequels so I'm sure it will improve itself in my eyes. Then he did Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings a film I've already discussed. Puppet Master 4 and Puppet Master 5 in 1994 and 1995. Other than Night of the Scarecrow, I have not seen any of his non sequel movies. Some of them look interesting and expect them to pop up on the blog.

Now I remember getting this movie from Allan's Video in the early 2000s during my "Rent every movie made in the 1980s that you possibly can, especially the horror films" binge. I spent my (parents) money on two things in those days. Old NES games and Video Rentals. I was able to do this because we had so many video stores in our town. In the St. Johns/Mount Pearl area. we had 3 Jumbo Videos, 3 Blockbusters, I think 4 Allan's Video, Capital Video (possibly the best of the lot) and at least 3 or 4 movie stores I forgot the name of. That's not to mention the ones that closed down like Venus Video (I remember someone sprayed a P over the V in the name and it was Penus Video. Very good comedy.) I really wish I had decided to rent these movies instead of uh let's say using the internet to get them. Yeah, that'll work. I mean it's easier to use the internet but man it nothing beats the fun of just trying to figure out what the last movie you'll rent is.

So The Stepfather is a really great film. Written by Donald E. Westlake who wrote like 5,000 novels. He based this off guys like John List and William Bradford Bishop, dudes who killed their entire families. Apparently they call them "Family Annihilator". That sounds like someone Batman should fight not murderers. I will never understand how we give killers such cool names. Every serial killer should be called something like "The PeePeePooPoo Killer or The Small Dick Fuckhead Killer" No more cool names for these fuckers. So yeah The Stepfather was a great film that I really enjoyed back then. I remember checking out parts two and three and not really enjoying either of them. I don't know why but I felt like watching this movie again. I'm glad I did because this is a very good little film that I don't know why the hell I didn't like back in the day. 

Stepfather II continues the story of Mr. Jerry Blake (played by Terry O'Quinn) who wants to find the perfect family. If his family fails him, well it's time for a bit of murder and wander off to another town and start again. However he's in some mental hospital because of his murders in the first movie. He escapes and finds himself in a small town and falling for Meg Foster (I forgot her character's name) and she's got a son, played by Jonathan Brandis. The guy who was on every teenage girl magazines between 1989 and 1994. Teenage girls loved that guy. Caroline Williams from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is in this movie as Meg Foster's best pal. You've got one hell of a cast there. Everyone does a great job playing pretty likable characters that you want to see make it through this ordeal.

There are some really neat directorial things I like. There's one scene where Meg Foster and Gene Clifford (Jerry Blakes new alter ego) are talking about her ex-husband who came back to her and how he left again. This is clipped in between scenes of the car his dead body is in being crushed. There's also another neat scene where Jerry Blake is killing someone and gets blood on the lamp so everything is all red. Very neat ideas that I appreciated. 

FINAL VERDICT: yeah this is yet another movie I end up watching and then really liking and wonder what the hell was up with my young self. Do I have to rewatch every one of these movies? Nah. I don't think I need to rewatch Stepfather III.