Make Room for Terry O'Quinn

STEPFATHER II (1989)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I suppose a sequel was inevitable to the original, watertight, exciting, suspenseful "The Stepfather," a film that developed an audience when it premiered on cable and video. A thriller with a number after it and a subtitle that reads "Make Room For Daddy" is asking for trouble: read "exploitation." Therefore I was surprised that "Stepfather 2" does not take the low road, and tries to focus on the characters with an ironic sense of black humor that is likely to be missed by most.

When we last left off with the Stepfather, he was shot and stabbed on the chest by his stepdaughter (Jill Schoelen). He somehow survived his near-fatal wounds and had since been placed at the Puget Sound mental institution. But you can't keep a balding, intelligent family man down for too long. This man craves a family and will go to extreme lengths to get one in good old suburbia. He escapes the loony bin by posing as a guard and assumes a new identity as a psychiatrist in some remote suburb of California. He is now Dr. Gene Clifford (a name he picks up in the obit section) with his own private practice. His next-door neighbor, a realtor named Carol (Meg Foster), shares an interest in him, makes him dinner, introduces him to her skateboarding son, Todd (Jonathan Brandis), and before you know it, good old Stepdad is ready to throw the old pigskin around and take Polaroids of his new potential family. Dr. Clifford also shows the kid how to use a hammer and nails with precision (oh, and he teaches him how to whistle "Camptown Races.") Clifford's patients seem to trust him except for the mail carrier (Caroline Williams, fresh from "Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2") who has her suspicions from the start and opens his mail! Terror is slowly creeping in when mild-mannered Clifford loses his temper after Carol's ex-husband starts showing up.

"Stepfather 2" was directed by Jeff Burr, who helmed the atrocious "Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III" and "The Offspring." Although suspenseful at times and tension-filled, Burr does lack the visual style and sense of community in typical American suburbia as strongly evidenced in the original film. This California community seems sparsely populated and a crucial scene in a park, shot with a long lens, diffuses any sense of community (though we hear sounds of children playing, we never see them). I almost got the impression that Clifford, Carol and other characters were the only occupants of a ghost town. Another scene in a backyard party also feels like it was shot too tightly. This is a shame because we never get the sense that the Stepfather is living the American dream - marriage, kids and a house with a white picket fence in tree-lined avenues. Close-up shots of garages and junkyards don't really cut it.

Also noteworthy is how this Stepfather manages to afford renting a home by pretending to be a shrink. I recall one Newsday reviewer commenting on this fact, stating that David Janseen's character in the TV series "The Fugitive" always had to work menial jobs to support himself. After Clifford's escape from the institution, he kills a guy with lots of money and credit cards - but is that still enough? How does Clifford initiate a practice in the first place? It would have been great if we saw how he immersed himself in this town. I can buy the Stepfather as a real estate agent or an insurance salesman, but a shrink with a private practice?

There are elements that do work. Terry O'Quinn still gives a dynamite performance showing the meek-looking, all-American Everyman with an impending threat of violence, thus switching from a smile to psychotic rage in a heartbeat. He still brings a layer of sympathy for someone who has forgotten that dysfunctional families are more common than functional ones. Clifford is a man who has grown up on television sitcoms where every problem was solved in half-an-hour. When he searches for a home, he watches Bob Eubanks on "Dream House." There is a delicious bit where he tries a video dating service and finds that not one woman interests him. But a family that can't disappoint him at all is unlikely - he is behind the times to say the least. O'Quinn makes "Stepfather 2" work - he is the movie.

Meg Foster as the divorced Carol has some moments, though her alien eyes make her appear more strange than intended - she is not as homely as Shelley Hack in the original. She does have one superb line after kissing Clifford's scars - "You are the kindest man I ever met." Jonathan Brandis has the thankless role as the typical American kid who loves skateboarding. His character is practically given nothing to do, unlike Jill Schoelen's suspicious stepdaughter in the original. Only the spunky Caroline Williams has more punch as Carol's best friend, and the scene in the park where she confronts Clifford with hardcore evidence of his true identity is quite stunning.

"Stepfather 2" is a good enough sequel with lots of black humor to make up for undernourished characters. It is a purposeless movie but for those who are fans of the original, it is a welcome return for one of the more interesting psychopaths in many years.