DVD Corner

The Stepfather Blu-ray Review

“The Stepfather” is another pointless remake of a classic.

Grades:

Content: C-

Picture: A

Audio: B+

Extras: B

The premise: David, a serial killer who starts a family, murders them and moves on to start another family, has met his new target- a divorced mother of three. At first, things seem to be going well for David and everyone until the newly single mother’s troublesome son (who has returned home from military school) begins to notice strange things about his mother’s new lover. Will David’s secret be discovered? Can the family survive?

As impressive as Dylan Walsh’s (of “Nip/Tuck” fame) performance is in this film, he’s no Terry O’Quinn from the original “The Stepfather.” In fact, this entire movie is nothing more than a useless remake with higher production values. The quick cut edits are distracting, the rushed story doesn’t let anything breathe in this movie, the psychological aspects have been played down, and the over the top sequel set-up ending does not work. On top of that, the changes to the characters are unnecessary. What is the point of having a divorced mother of three children (two of which are hardly seen) instead of having a single mother of one like in the original? Why bother making this film to begin with? The original is a cult classic that does not need to be updated. That’s all that needs to be said.

Summary: Skip this remake and watch the gritty, disturbing original instead.

The 2.40:1 1080p picture quality is impressive. It’s a nice, glossy transfer and it’s definitely the best thing about this disc.

The 5.1 DTS-HD is fine. This is not a big audo centric movie, but the moody music, dialogue, modern music, etc. sounded clear to me.

Extras:

* Gag Reel.
* Movie IQ- Blu-ray exclusive trivia feature.
* Theatrical trailer and 6 TV spots.
* Sony trailers.
* A rather dull commentary by Nelson McCormick, Penn Badgley and Dylan Walsh.
* “Open House: Making The Film”- A behind-the-scenes featurette containing interviews, discussions about the original film, set footage, etc.

* “Visualizing The Stunts”- A featurette on, you guessed it, the stunts in the movie.

February 8, 2010 - Posted by nicklyons1 | 1 | The Stepfather Blu-ray Review