Netflix Instant Queue Diaries: The Stepfather

It’s not the best slasher remake of all-time, but Nelson McCormick’s remake of the ’80s cult hit ends up a winner thanks to a solid, yet predictable script and enough action to stab with a knife.

And believe you me, there’s plenty of stabbing in this film.

Just from the title and promotional art alone, it’s obvious that this is a horror flick and it’s even more obvious what the plot’s going to be like: some lunatic, yet good-looking and charismatic psycho works his way into a family and eventually tries to kill them.

Big whoop, right?

Well, with an intriguing beginning, where we see the transformation of David Harris [played chillingly by Dylan Walsh, you know, the dude from such TV shows such as “Gabriel’s Fire” and “Brooklyn South”…wait you don’t know him? Well he is married to Melora Walters, the hottie who played Wanda Henrickson on “Big Love” and if you don’t know her, then…], this film starts off shockingly and has enough cool moments that make up for the mediocrity of the majority of the film.

With “Gossip Girls’” Penn Badgley co-starring as Harris’ step-son Michael, there’s also plenty of eye candy for the ladies and ironically enough, these two work pretty well on-screen together. Seeing them match wits and spoil each others plans actually gets downright interesting at times. Curious as to how his step-father was before he met his mother and just being a wise-ass teenager, Badgley uncovers the entire plot step by step, inch by inch, all the while his mother, the always cute Sela Ward and hottie girlfriend Amber Heard [who is rumored to be the new Mystique in the upcoming X-Men flick] telling him he’s crazy.

Little do they know that they’ll eventually be fighting for their lives in what turns out to be a pretty gruesome and scary, yet hilarious flick.

Lets just put it this way, you’ll be screaming at the TV the whole time.

Seeing Walsh take care of whoever steps in his way is a fun viewing experience, especially if you get off on seeing old ladies being thrown down a flight of stairs. It’s the kind of film that tries to be realistic, but fails miserably and induces laughs, rather than shock. Nevertheless, it ends up being something that you can watch all the way through and not feel like you wasted your time.

Considering the fact that many of the new flicks on the Instant Queue lack this appeal entirely, this is a motion picture that suits the midnight munchies and blues just fine.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14262 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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