“The Dark Knight Rises” debuts more new character posters
Has the Sacha Baron Cohen shtick jumped the shark?
Tim Grierson on Will Smith, the Last Movie Star
Exclusive download: Corporal, featuring Michael Shannon, presents “Glory”
Satan’s Churches
A Halloween bouquet of reviews for "Antichrist," "The House of the Devil" and "The Stepfather."
Not quite a handsome devil, but clean-cut and charming enough to pick up divorced mother Susan (Sela Ward) in the cookie aisle of a Portland supermarket, the chameleonic title character of “The Stepfather” is most recently known as David Harris (Dylan Walsh). Before that, he was Gary, a suburban Salt Lake City stepdad who butchered his family and fled northwest with a new hairdo and colored contacts, ready to start fresh with another unsuspecting single mom and her brood.
I don’t want to sound violent or anything, but whoever decided to release this remake of the ’80s “Stepfather” with a PG-13 could very well find his head on that studio-executive chopping block that’s been getting so much use lately. Opening last weekend to only a third of the grosses for the R-rated “Paranormal Activity,” “The Stepfather” seems to have scared kids in the wrong direction, leading them to sense a family thriller in more ways than one. Thing is, while this fairly efficient little shocker is no “Saw VI” (or “Antichrist”), it does get nasty enough, particularly in an early scene where the psycho stepdaddy not only takes a cue from Richard Widmark in “Kiss of Death,” but proceeds downstairs to guarantee completion of the job. The little ones will love it.
In fact, the only problem with “The Stepfather” is that, unlike Joseph Ruben’s original film, its horror doesn’t dare to extend past one sick individual into the (w)hole of suburban American life. A more savagely satiric remake — Filter’s caterwauling cover version of the Turtles’ “Happy Together” — appears in the closing credits. (“Ba-ba ba-barrrrggghhhh…”) Now that’s scary.
Rob Nelson is our guest critic for the month of October.
“Antichrist” is now available on demand, and opens in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco on October 23rd; “The House of the Devil” is now available on demand, and opens in limited release on October 30th; “The Stepfather” is now playing in wide release.
Pages: 1 2
Tags: Antichrist, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Dylan Walsh, Horror, Jocelin Donahue, Lars Von Trier, Sela Ward, The Fixx, The House of the Devil, The Stepfather, Ti West, Willem Dafoe
