Product Details

• Actors: Gabrielle Rose, Terry O'Quinn, Jill Schoelen, Shelley Hack, Charles Lanyer
• Directors: Joseph Ruben
• Producers: The Stepfather
• Format: Import, PAL
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Umbrella Entertainment
• Run Time: 91 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000AQHGXI
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #337,622 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Australia released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, Scene Access, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: Terry O'Quinn plays The Stepfather in this intelligent, unsettling chiller. We'd tell you O'Quinn's character name, but he has so many. You see, O'Quinn has been a stepfather many times over, romancing and marrying widowed women in several different states. After each wedding, everything is blissful--at least, until O'Quinn's new wife and kids fail to measure up to his notions of perfection. Then he kills them en masse, and moves on to his next victims. Shelley Hack and Jill Schoelen co-star as O'Quinn's latest wife and stepdaughter, who prove to be yet another disappointment to him. An adroit witches' blend of Ozzie and Harriet and Psycho, The Stepfather was scripted by suspense veteran Donald E. Westlake. A lesser sequel, Stepfather II, followed in 1989.
SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Catalonian International Film Festival, Edgar Allan Poe Awards, Fantasporto Awards, ...The Stepfather

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars WHY ISN'T THIS ON DVD???, October 17, 2005

By 

Tim Janson (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Stepfather [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Stepfather 2 & 3 are on DVD nad yet the original still is not. What kind of sense does that make? The late 80's/early 90's gave us a whole series of what I call "the ____ from hell" type of movie. Fatal Attraction gave us the affair from hell, Pacific Heights gave us the tenant from hell, and The Hand that Rocked the Cradle gave us the nanny from hell. As the title suggests, "Stepfather" was the stepfather from hell starring Terry O' Quinn, one of my favorite character actors.

Quinn is Jerry Blake...or maybe he isn't. Blake is a homicidal maniac looking for the perfect family in the perfect neighborhood. all he wants is the 1950's style Americana life with a nice white picket fence, a family that has dinner together and plays together. He marries Susan (Shelly Hack) who has a teenage daughter Stephanie (Jill Schoelen). Stephanie begins to suspect something isn't quite right about Jerry and begins checking him out. This infuriates Jerry who finds her rebellious leading to numerous run-ins. Jerry then takes on another alias and begins scouting for a new family. Meanwhile a member of the last family that Jerry killed is on his trail looking to kill him before Jerry can kill another family.

Terry O' Quinn is fantastic in his role moving from a Mr. Brady/Father Knows Best dad to a raging maniac at the drop of a hat. When everything goes well, Jerry is the loving father and husband everyone would want, but when things don't live up to his expectations...well...Look out! A very underrated slasher that is as much psychological horror as it is slasher film. Hopefully this will be on DVD soon. Great film!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No one can act like a psyco like terry :-), January 2, 2005

By 

Tonya "tweetycraze" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Stepfather [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Loved it! Awesome movie. Only Terry O'Quinn can pull off being a psycho in this great horror flick. My only gripe is why is this movie not on dvd? I have stepfather 2 on dvd also a great horror movie! I recommend stepfather and stepfather 2.Was not pleased with stepfather 3 because Terry is not in it.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Needs a US DVD release., May 13, 2006

By 

John S. Harris "The Voice of Reason" (Memphis, TN) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Stepfather [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Australia ] (DVD)

To the reviewer who wrote "it's worth watching just to see Shelley Hack get hit with a telephone".... LOL!

This is an underappreciated and underseen horror gem from 1987. Low on budget, high on tension. A shrewd piece of acting by Terry O'Quinn. Director Joseph Ruben has made several good and a few great films, and this one ranks as his best, IMHO.

Can't believe with all the hoopla surrounding the TV show "Lost" that this film with a "Lost" star in it hasn't been rushed out on DVD. Legal/rights/ownership obstacles, perhaps? Well for goodness sakes smooth those obstacles out and deliver us this DVD. My VHS copy won't look good too much longer.