The big picture

• Family horror is a popular theme with
  The stepfather
  Inspired by a real murderer, a frighteningly plausible story emerges.
• Terry O’Quinn’s portrayal of the murderous stepfather is harrowing and shows a perfect mix of normality and violence.
• The remake of
  The stepfather
  starring Dylan Walsh does not reach the quality of the original.

Family horror is a big topic at the moment and deals with everything from generational trauma in Hereditary to learn the ugly truth about a partner in Ready or Not. But it is by no means a new concept, and in 1987 gave us one of the most memorable family members imaginable The stepfather. Actors Terry O’Quinn And Jill Schoelen, This classic slasher was inspired by a real-life mass murderer. In a story straight from the headlines, The stepfather is about a teenager who suspects that her new stepfather may have killed his former family – and that she and her mother are next. The film was successful enough to spawn two sequels and a remake in 2009. The sequels are pretty mediocre, but that’s not unusual for a horror series; it’s the remake with Dylan Walsh which is completely irrelevant compared to the original.

“The Stepfather” was inspired by the real killer John List

In 1971, John List shot his mother Alma, his wife Helen and his three children Patricia (16), John Frederick (15) and Frederick (13) and then disappeared for almost 18 years.. Before that, he was known as a gentle man, a staunch Lutheran, and something of a “mama’s boy.” He often complained about his wife’s spending habits, but he himself had lost his job and kept this a secret from his family. According to the LA Timeshe was generally regarded as someone who “would never stand out from the crowd.” Despite his seemingly mundane life, List had clearly planned to leave his family for a long time. He had looted his mother’s savings account and sent notices to his children’s schools and workplaces explaining that they would be visiting Helen’s mother in North Carolina for several weeks. He stopped all deliveries to the house and even turned the air conditioning down to 10 degrees so that the bodies would not decompose so quickly. List was so methodical that no one noticed his family’s deaths until a month had passed after he killed them.

The author of The stepfatherNovelist Donald E. Westlakesays that the idea was suggested to him by the author/producer Brian Garfieldwho had learned of the List murders from a newspaper clipping someone had given him years earlier. Westlake says Garfield approached him and said, “I’ll never write (the List story) as a novel, would you like to make it into a movie? My production company will hire you.” Westlake agreed and wrote a script that seems frighteningly plausible and became a classic slasher.

Terry O’Quinn plays a mentally disturbed family man in “The Stepfather”

Terry O’Quinn from Lost Fame is one of the reasons The stepfather works so well. He plays the titular stepfather, who has several aliases in the film but is primarily known as “Jerry.” He is obsessed with creating the stereotypical American family, and this is where his murderous side comes into play. When Jerry’s current family fails to live up to his expectations, he gets angry and kills her, and then tries again with a new identity and another family.

O’Quinn is perfectly cast because he can convincingly portray the bundle of contradictions that make up Jerry. Even after the film begins with Jerry calmly changing his appearance and leaving the house where he just slaughtered his entire family, he is still believable as a typical American father with his new family a year later. This makes it even more disturbing when Jerry lets his anger run wild when he thinks he is aloneand how quickly he changes from a normal husband to a violent killer over the course of the film. Besides the extremely violent scenes, the most iconic moment of the film is both O’Quinn’s talents and the gruesome nature of the character is when Jerry makes a slip-up in front of his newest wife Susan (Shelley Hack). During an argument, he calls himself by the wrong name. When Susan asks him to repeat it, Jerry realizes his mistake, stares into the distance, and quietly asks, “Who am I here?” before hitting her in the face with a phone. It’s such an iconic moment that it became part of the movie poster.

“The Stepfather” is known for its shocking violence

Even without Terry O’Quinn’s highly acclaimed performance, The stepfather is extremely memorable due to the level of violence throughout. And it’s brutal from the start; the film’s opening scene vividly shows the aftermath of one of Jerry’s fits of rage. O’Quinn calmly removes blood-soaked clothing in an upstairs bathroom. He showers, shaves, takes off his thick glasses and puts on contacts, then puts on a suit that was waiting for him in a suitcase; he makes himself practically unrecognizable. As he goes down the stairs and cleans up, The camera pans down the stairs to reveal a living room completely covered in blood and containing the bodies of his family, including at least one little girl. Although it’s clear that something terrible has happened as we watch Jerry in the bathroom, it’s downright horrifying to see it so abruptly and in all its gory detail. And the film doesn’t stop there; in another incredibly brutal scene, Jerry beats a man to death onscreen with a 2×4. It’s not quite as gory as the beginning, but you see – and hear – every blow Jerry rains down on his victim, making it just as brutal and helping to cement the film’s reputation as a solid slasher.

“The Stepfather” was remade in 2009 with Dylan Walsh in the lead role.

Because The stepfather is still so well received today, it was only a matter of time before it was reissuedUnfortunately, despite providing more comprehensive information about John List’s activities after the murders, the remake failed to capture audiences’ attention like the original. Dylan Walsh took over the title role from Terry O’Quinn, but he just didn’t have the same scary menaceHe is quite likeable, but cannot convincingly convey the changeable personality that O’Quinn gave the character.

The remake also doesn’t focus as much on the original “family unit” obsession as the original; Walsh’s character usually murders to avoid being discoveredwhich isn’t helped by the fact that he keeps making mistakes with his invented background details. He also doesn’t seem as crazy as O’Quinn. The 2009 film was downgraded to PG-13 from the original’s R rating, and the murders are almost entirely bloodless. The remake just doesn’t have the same tension or terror as the 1987 version. Gratuitous violence doesn’t make a great film; it might be memorable, but to make a film entertaining, it needs more depth. The stepfather features both impressive kills and a chilling performance from Terry O’Quinn that the remake just couldn’t capture. The concept is grounded in reality rather than supernatural or exaggerated, so it’s no wonder the original film still resonates with audiences.

The stepfather can be streamed on Peacock in the US.

Watch on Peacock