Stepfather II

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Stepfather II

R,

1989,

1h 26m,

Horror

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Watchlist

Watchlist

22%

9 Reviews

Tomatometer

35%

2,500+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

22%

Tomatometer

9 Reviews

35%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

After cheating death by surviving being both stabbed and shot, psychotic killer Jerry (Terry O'Quinn) is placed in a mental institution, but he soon murders his doctor and escapes. Taking on a dead man's identity, he moves to an upscale neighborhood in Los Angeles and sets his sights on local woman Carol (Meg Foster), slowly winning her heart. Carol's son, Todd (Jonathan Brandis), grows suspicious of his mom's new lover, however, and tensions reach the boiling point at the couple's wedding.

Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

May 20, 2011

C-

Rarely has a sequel followed its predecessor's exact template like this thoroughly imitative follow-up.

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Paul Lê

Bloody Disgusting

Nov 5, 2024

3/5

The movie is not even remotely close to being the black sheep of the Stepfather family.

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Calum Baker

Radio Times

Jan 25, 2024

2/5

A plot that teeters on so many improbabilities, all the way up to its murderous wedding reception, needs more than O'Quinn's priceless expression when his breakfast snaps, crackles and pops.

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

Aug 30, 2023

3/4

This brand of bad movie is unique because even while being bad, it allows the viewer to relish its awfulness and transform the experience into something enjoyable. This doesn’t happen often, but when it does, you should savor it.

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Bill Cosford

Miami Herald

Aug 18, 2021

2/4

One of the defining characteristics of modem horror films is that no villain is ever truly dead, at least until the revenue curve is flat. And so comes Stepfather II.

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David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

Nov 25, 2009

2/4

...a tiresome sequel that boasts little worth recommending aside from Terry O'Quinn's expectedly electrifying performance.

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Harry G

Oct 28, 2018

Okay sequel to the underrated original slasher/thriller about a demented serial killer, an excellent Terry O'Quinn, seeking the perfect all-American family and then slaughtering them when they don't live up to his white picket fence expectation. This sequel picks up from the end of the first film with O'Quinn escaping from an insane asylum, assuming a new identify, and finding a new family to be a loving stepfather. Jonathan Brandis, the son of O'Quinn's new wife, Meg Foster, begins to suspect something is wrong with his new stepdad and the white picket fences begin to crumble. The main weakness of this sequel is that the original film was told from the perspective of the teen daughter and tension built around her slowly coming to the realization that her new stepfather is not who he says he is. It wasn't a mystery in the original film that O'Quinn was a killer, but it was the suspenseful game of cat-and-mouse between stepfather and daughter that made the film interesting, as well as O'Quinn's dynamite performance. Where this sequel goes wrong is that O'Quinn is now the main character, which jettisons the film's cat-and-mouse suspense, and also causes film fall into standard slasher film conventions, losing the originality of the first film. O'Quinn is still excellent, but overall, "Stepfather II" is a so-so horror/slasher film that's nowhere as good as the highly original first film.

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Jeff Burr

Director

Terry O'Quinn

The Stepfather

Meg Foster

Carol Grayland

Caroline Williams

Matty Crimmins

Jonathan Brandis

Todd Grayland

Henry Brown

Dr. Joseph Danvers

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Synopsis

After cheating death by surviving being both stabbed and shot, psychotic killer Jerry (Terry O'Quinn) is placed in a mental institution, but he soon murders his doctor and escapes. Taking on a dead man's identity, he moves to an upscale neighborhood in Los Angeles and sets his sights on local woman Carol (Meg Foster), slowly winning her heart. Carol's son, Todd (Jonathan Brandis), grows suspicious of his mom's new lover, however, and tensions reach the boiling point at the couple's wedding.

Director: Jeff Burr
Producer: William Burr, Darin Scott
Screenwriter: John Auerbach
Distributor: Millimeter Films
Production Co: Incorporated Television Company, Millimeter Films, Part II Productions
Rating: R
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 3, 1989, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 26, 2018
Box Office (Gross USA): $255.3K
Runtime: 1h 26m

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