Stepfather II
Encyclopedia
Stepfather II also known as Stepfather 2: Make Room for Daddy, is a 1989
psychological
thriller film directed by Jeff Burr
from a screenplay written by John Auerbach. It is the sequel
to the first Stepfather
(1987) and stars Terry O'Quinn
as the title character, a flawed sociopath
and a master of disguise
who escapes a sanitarium and enters the life of a single mother with the intent of marrying her, murdering everyone who gets in his way. The cast includes Meg Foster
, Caroline Williams and Jonathan Brandis
.
, Washington since, spending his time building model houses in the workshop. Assigned a new doctor named Joseph Danvers the stepfather begins confiding in him to gain his trust, ultimately murdering the doctor during a session by stabbing him in the neck with a blade smuggled out of the workshop. After killing Danvers the stepfather beats a suspicious guard named Ralph Smith to death with his own nightstick with only two strikes and takes his uniform, successfully sneaking out of the sanitarium. Checking into a hotel after robbing and murdering a traveling salesman the stepfather alters his appearance, takes the name Doctor Gene F. Clifford (a family psychiatrist) from the newspaper obituaries and travels to Palm Meadows, Los Angeles
after seeing an ad for it on an episode of Dream House.
Gene arrives in Palm Meadows and meets real estate agent Carol Grayland (Coincidentally, Carol held a real estate job position which used to be Gene's when he was still Jerry Blake) and leases a house just across the street from her and her son Todd. During a session with the wives of the neighborhood, Gene learns Carol's dentist husband, Philip had absconded with his mistress the previous year. Gene begins courting Carol, eventually winning over her and Todd. Gene's plan to marry Carol is soon complicated when Phil returns, wanting to reconcile with his wife. Needing Phil out of the way, Gene persuades Carol to send Phil over for a meeting, during which Gene kills him with a broken bottle, covering up Phil's disappearance afterward by arranging it so that it looks as though he simply ran off again. With Phil gone Gene and Carol arrange to get married.
Concerned about her best friend, Carol, local mail carrier Madeline "Matty" Crimmins begins looking through Gene's mail, finding a letter addressed to the real Gene Clifford (which includes a photograph revealing him to be African American
). Confronted by Matty (who wants to know who he really is) in the park, Gene persuades her to let him tell Carol the truth about his past, though this turns out to be a lie and later that night Gene kills Matty via strangulation, making her death resemble a suicide by hanging. On his way out Gene takes Matty's last bottle of wine and crosses through the yard of Matty's blind neighbor Sam Watkins, who hears Gene whistling "Camptown Races
," which he mentions to Carol the next day.
Despite Matty's death, at Gene's insistence, the wedding proceeds as planned. While dressing in the church, Carol recognizes bottles of wine sent by Matty's parents as the same brand Gene had the other night, and overhears Todd whistling "Camptown Races," which he says Gene taught him. Thinking Gene may have had something to do with Matty's death, Carol confronts him, prompting Gene to attack Carol and Todd, the latter of whom he locks in a storage closet. As Gene prepares to kill Carol in the reception area, Todd breaks out of the closet and saves his mother, stabbing Gene in the chest with a claw hammer
, seemingly killing him.
of the film, studio executives Harvey
and Bob Weinstein
complained about the lack of blood and demanded re-shoots. Jeff Burr refused and another director was hired to do the reshoots. In an interview, Burr commented "they cut a little bit of [the film] out and they added some badly done blood effects. Badly done, because Terry O’Quinn refused to do it. Really, they were meaningless, so that was irritating."
theatrically in the United States
by Millimeter Films in November 1989. It grossed $1,519,796 domestically at the box office.
stated "this dull sequel reduces the intriguing premise of the original Stepfather to the level of an inconsequential, tongue-in-cheek slasher film". Richard Harrington of The Washington Post
wrote that the film was cliche-ridden and lacked the reality-rooted horror that made the original film effective, finishing his review by stating "Stepfather 2 is just slick marketing trying to capitalize on unsettling art -- and failing badly, at that".
and that same year in Canada by Alliance Atlantis
and included audio commentary with director Jeff Burr and producer Darin Scott. In 2009, to coincide with the release of the Screen Gems
remake of the original Stepfather, Synapse Films
re-released Stepfather II on DVD with special features including the ones available on the Miramax and Alliance Atlantis releases, as well as new features such as a making-of documentary.
1989 in film
-Events:* Batman is released on June 23, and goes on to gross over $410 million worldwide.* Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton, Georgia, for $20 million...
psychological
Psychological horror
Psychological horror is a subgenre of horror fiction that relies on character fears, guilt, beliefs, eerie sound effects, relevant music and emotional instability to build tension and further the plot...
thriller film directed by Jeff Burr
Jeff Burr
Jeff Burr is an American film director, Writer and producer best known for his work in horror sequels, such as Stepfather II, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, Puppet Master 4 and 5, and Pumpkinhead II....
from a screenplay written by John Auerbach. It is the sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
to the first Stepfather
The Stepfather (1987 film)
The Stepfather is a 1987 American thriller film starring Terry O'Quinn in the title role. It is loosely based on the life of mass murderer John List, although the plot is more commonly associated with slasher films of the era than a true story. It was directed by Joseph Ruben and written by Donald E...
(1987) and stars Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn is an American actor, most famous for playing John Locke on the TV series Lost. He made his debut in a 1980 television movie called F.D.R.: The Last Year. Since then, O'Quinn has had minor supporting roles in films and TV movies such as Young Guns, All the Right Moves, Silver Bullet,...
as the title character, a flawed sociopath
Psychopathy
Psychopathy is a mental disorder characterized primarily by a lack of empathy and remorse, shallow emotions, egocentricity, and deceptiveness. Psychopaths are highly prone to antisocial behavior and abusive treatment of others, and are very disproportionately responsible for violent crime...
and a master of disguise
Disguise
A disguise can be anything which conceals or changes a person's physical appearance, including a wig, glasses, makeup, costume or other ways. Camouflage is one type of disguise for people, animals and objects...
who escapes a sanitarium and enters the life of a single mother with the intent of marrying her, murdering everyone who gets in his way. The cast includes Meg Foster
Meg Foster
Megan "Meg" Foster is an American actress best known for her roles in the TV miniseries version of The Scarlet Letter, Ticket to Heaven, The Osterman Weekend, and They Live .-Life and career:...
, Caroline Williams and Jonathan Brandis
Jonathan Brandis
Jonathan Gregory Brandis was an American actor, director, and screenwriter.-Early life and career:Brandis was born in Danbury, Connecticut, the only child of Mary, a teacher and personal manager, and Gregory Brandis, a food distributor and firefighter. He began his career as a child model and...
.
Plot
Surviving being shot and stabbed at the end of the previous film, the stepfather has been institutionalized in Puget SoundPuget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
, Washington since, spending his time building model houses in the workshop. Assigned a new doctor named Joseph Danvers the stepfather begins confiding in him to gain his trust, ultimately murdering the doctor during a session by stabbing him in the neck with a blade smuggled out of the workshop. After killing Danvers the stepfather beats a suspicious guard named Ralph Smith to death with his own nightstick with only two strikes and takes his uniform, successfully sneaking out of the sanitarium. Checking into a hotel after robbing and murdering a traveling salesman the stepfather alters his appearance, takes the name Doctor Gene F. Clifford (a family psychiatrist) from the newspaper obituaries and travels to Palm Meadows, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
after seeing an ad for it on an episode of Dream House.
Gene arrives in Palm Meadows and meets real estate agent Carol Grayland (Coincidentally, Carol held a real estate job position which used to be Gene's when he was still Jerry Blake) and leases a house just across the street from her and her son Todd. During a session with the wives of the neighborhood, Gene learns Carol's dentist husband, Philip had absconded with his mistress the previous year. Gene begins courting Carol, eventually winning over her and Todd. Gene's plan to marry Carol is soon complicated when Phil returns, wanting to reconcile with his wife. Needing Phil out of the way, Gene persuades Carol to send Phil over for a meeting, during which Gene kills him with a broken bottle, covering up Phil's disappearance afterward by arranging it so that it looks as though he simply ran off again. With Phil gone Gene and Carol arrange to get married.
Concerned about her best friend, Carol, local mail carrier Madeline "Matty" Crimmins begins looking through Gene's mail, finding a letter addressed to the real Gene Clifford (which includes a photograph revealing him to be African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
). Confronted by Matty (who wants to know who he really is) in the park, Gene persuades her to let him tell Carol the truth about his past, though this turns out to be a lie and later that night Gene kills Matty via strangulation, making her death resemble a suicide by hanging. On his way out Gene takes Matty's last bottle of wine and crosses through the yard of Matty's blind neighbor Sam Watkins, who hears Gene whistling "Camptown Races
Camptown Races
Gwine to Run All Night, or De Camptown Races is a minstrel song by Stephen Foster . It was probably composed in Cincinnati in 1849, according to Richard Jackson, and published by F. D. Benteen of Baltimore, Maryland, in February 1850...
," which he mentions to Carol the next day.
Despite Matty's death, at Gene's insistence, the wedding proceeds as planned. While dressing in the church, Carol recognizes bottles of wine sent by Matty's parents as the same brand Gene had the other night, and overhears Todd whistling "Camptown Races," which he says Gene taught him. Thinking Gene may have had something to do with Matty's death, Carol confronts him, prompting Gene to attack Carol and Todd, the latter of whom he locks in a storage closet. As Gene prepares to kill Carol in the reception area, Todd breaks out of the closet and saves his mother, stabbing Gene in the chest with a claw hammer
Claw hammer
A claw hammer is a tool primarily used for pounding nails into, or extracting nails from, some other object. Generally, a claw hammer is associated with woodworking but is not limited to use with wood products...
, seemingly killing him.
Cast
- Terry O'QuinnTerry O'QuinnTerry O'Quinn is an American actor, most famous for playing John Locke on the TV series Lost. He made his debut in a 1980 television movie called F.D.R.: The Last Year. Since then, O'Quinn has had minor supporting roles in films and TV movies such as Young Guns, All the Right Moves, Silver Bullet,...
as Jerry Blake/Gene F. Clifford/The Stepfather - Meg FosterMeg FosterMegan "Meg" Foster is an American actress best known for her roles in the TV miniseries version of The Scarlet Letter, Ticket to Heaven, The Osterman Weekend, and They Live .-Life and career:...
as Carol Grayland - Caroline Williams as Madeline "Matty" Crimmins
- Jonathan BrandisJonathan BrandisJonathan Gregory Brandis was an American actor, director, and screenwriter.-Early life and career:Brandis was born in Danbury, Connecticut, the only child of Mary, a teacher and personal manager, and Gregory Brandis, a food distributor and firefighter. He began his career as a child model and...
as Todd Grayland - Henry BrownHenry BrownHenry Brown may refer to:* Henry "Box" Brown , American slave who had himself mailed in a box to freedom* Henry Billings Brown , U.S. Supreme Court Justice, 1891–1906* Henry E. Brown, Jr. , U.S...
as Doctor Joseph Danvers - Mitchell Laurance as Philip Grayland
- Miriam Byrd-NetheryMiriam Byrd-NetheryMiriam Byrd-Nethery was the wife of actor Clu Gulager, and mother of Tom Gulager and John Gulager. She was born in Lewisville, Lafayette County, Arkansas and died in Los Angeles, California.-Filmography:...
as Sally Jenkins - Leon Martell as Ralph Smith
- Renata Scott as Betty Willis
- John O'LearyJohn O'LearyJohn O'Leary may refer to:* John O'Leary , Irish nationalist who was imprisoned in England during the nineteenth century*John O'Leary , former Irish Fianna Fáil party politician and TD for Kerry South...
as Sam Watkins - Glen AdamsGlen AdamsGlen Adams was a Jamaican musician, composer, arranger, engineer, producer, based since the mid-1970s in Brooklyn, New York.-Career:...
as Salesman - Eric BrownEric Brown (actor)Eric Brown, , is an American film and TV actor of the 1980s.Brown is best known for his role as Phillip Fillmore in the coming of age motion picture Private Lessons and as Vinton "Buzz" Harper, Jr...
as Hotel Attendant - Bob Gray as Choir Singer
- Rosemary Welden as Video Date
Production
After a test screeningTest screening
A test screening is a preview screening of a movie or television show before its general release in order to gauge audience reaction. Preview audiences are selected from a cross-section of the population, and are usually asked to complete a questionnaire or provide feedback in some form. Harold...
of the film, studio executives Harvey
Harvey Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein, CBE is an American film producer and movie studio chairman. He is best known as co-founder of Miramax Films. He and his brother Bob have been co-chairmen of The Weinstein Company, their film production company, since 2005...
and Bob Weinstein
Bob Weinstein
Robert "Bob" Weinstein is an American film and theatre producer, the founder and head of Dimension Films, former co-chairman of Miramax Films, and current head, with his brother Harvey Weinstein, of The Weinstein Company.-Career:...
complained about the lack of blood and demanded re-shoots. Jeff Burr refused and another director was hired to do the reshoots. In an interview, Burr commented "they cut a little bit of [the film] out and they added some badly done blood effects. Badly done, because Terry O’Quinn refused to do it. Really, they were meaningless, so that was irritating."
Release
Stepfather II was originally intended to be released direct to video, however, the producers were impressed enough with the sequel that it was released into theaters. The film was given a limited releaseLimited release
Limited release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing in a select few theaters across the country ....
theatrically in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by Millimeter Films in November 1989. It grossed $1,519,796 domestically at the box office.
Reception
The film received mostly negative reviews. VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
stated "this dull sequel reduces the intriguing premise of the original Stepfather to the level of an inconsequential, tongue-in-cheek slasher film". Richard Harrington of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
wrote that the film was cliche-ridden and lacked the reality-rooted horror that made the original film effective, finishing his review by stating "Stepfather 2 is just slick marketing trying to capitalize on unsettling art -- and failing badly, at that".
Home video
After the film's theatrical release, it was released on VHS by HBO Video in the United States and in Canada around the same time by Cineplex Odeon. In 2003, the film was released on DVD by Miramax FilmsMiramax Films
Miramax Films is an American entertainment company known for distributing independent and foreign films. For its first 14 years the company was privately owned by its founders, Bob and Harvey Weinstein...
and that same year in Canada by Alliance Atlantis
Alliance Atlantis
Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. was a Toronto-based media company that operated primarily as a specialty service operator in Canada. Alliance Atlantis also had offices in Halifax, Los Angeles, London, Dublin, Madrid, Barcelona, Shannon and Sydney.Alliance Atlantis was acquired by Canwest...
and included audio commentary with director Jeff Burr and producer Darin Scott. In 2009, to coincide with the release of the Screen Gems
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American movie production company and subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation....
remake of the original Stepfather, Synapse Films
Synapse Films
Synapse Films is a DVD/Blu-ray label owned and operated by Don May, Jr. and his business partners Jerry Chandler and Charles Fiedler. The company specializes in cult horror, science fiction, and exploitation films....
re-released Stepfather II on DVD with special features including the ones available on the Miramax and Alliance Atlantis releases, as well as new features such as a making-of documentary.