The Stepfather (2009 film)
| The Stepfather | |
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Theatrical Release Poster
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| Directed by | Nelson McCormick |
| Produced by | Mark Morgan Greg Moordian |
| Written by | J.S. Cardone |
| Starring |
Penn Badgley Dylan Walsh Sela Ward Amber Heard Jon Tenney |
| Music by | Charlie Clouser |
| Cinematography | Patrick Cady |
| Edited by | Eric L. Beason |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Screen Gems |
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Release date
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Running time
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101 minutes 102 minutes (Unrated cut) |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20 million |
| Box office | $31.1 million |
The Stepfather is a 2009 American horror thriller film and a remake of the 1987 horror film of the same title. The film was directed by Nelson McCormick and stars Penn Badgley, Dylan Walsh and Sela Ward. The original was directed by Joseph Ruben and shot from a script by Donald Westlake. The films are loosely based on the crimes of mass murderer John List.
The film opens as Grady Edwards (Dylan Walsh) transforms himself in a bathroom. He shaves off his beard, dyes his hair, and removes his brown contact lenses. He goes downstairs with his luggage and fixes himself peanut butter toast and coffee. As he leaves the house, the camera reveals the bodies of his wife and her three children.
Susan Harding (Sela Ward) is shopping in a grocery store with her youngest children where she meets Grady, who introduces himself as David Harris, a man who lost his wife and daughter in a car accident. He charms her, and six months later, they are engaged to be married. Susan's eldest son, Michael (Penn Badgley) returns home from military school and is wary of the situation. David invites him down to the basement, where he has installed locked cabinets, and tries to befriend Michael over tequila shots.
Michael's suspicions start when David uses the wrong name when mentioning his deceased daughter. After Susan says that an elderly neighbor warned her that America's Most Wanted ran a profile on a serial killer that looked like David, David barges into the woman's house and throws her down her basement stairs, breaking her neck.
Susan's ex-husband Jay confronts David angrily about laying hands on his younger son, Sean, after David grabbed the boy roughly for failing to turn down the volume on his video game. He warns Susan that she knows nothing about David. Doubts about David mount further when he quits his job working as a real estate agent for Susan's sister, Jackie (Paige Turco) to avoid displaying a photo ID and other forms of identification.
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