Article 1. MP 2. The Stepfather Movie Review

The Stepfather is a newly released movie that hit theaters on October 16, 2009. It is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing images, mature thematic material and brief sensuality. I went to Cinema Movies 10 to watch this movie with my two younger step-sisters (9 and 11). They were scared to watch the movie and ending up hiding their eyes almost the entire time. I wouldn't recommend this movie for anyone under the age of thirteen.
A man named "David Harris" is shopping at a store and runs into a family with a mother and three kids. One of the children is away at military school. When the child at military school, Michael, returns home he finds that his mother is engaged to "David". Michael starts to suspect that there's something different about "David" and that he might not be who he said he was.
The movie falls into place keeping you guessing the entire time. If you read a synopsis of the movie before going to the theater, you would probably expect that "David" is a serial killer, or something along those lines. So throughout the movie the director's throw in suspenseful music that gets you on the edge of your seat in scenes where you think "David" is going to kill someone when in reality he doesn't.
I enjoyed this movie a lot, although I think in some ways it could've been better. At the beginning the scene is set as a family of 4 is laying on the living room floor and "David" walks out of the house with a suitcase packed. When you're watching this scene it's hard to tell whether the family is dead or merely sleeping. Because "David" only kills victims by way of strangling, careful not to leave any evidence, you don't see any blood or tell-tale signs that the family is dead or has been murdered.
*Spoiler alert*
At the end of the movie, "David" escapes from the family. They show him working at another store with a different name as a family of a mother and 2 kids approach him. He shakes the mom's hand and gives them his number. Already, you know what is going to happen. A lot of people think this means, "Oh! Sequel!", but in reality does it? If they made a sequel to this movie, it would be extremely similar to the first one. It would follow the same plot line. Guy goes undercover as a step-father, kid figures out that he isn't who he says he is, guy kills family and/or gets away. Hooray.
So really, I would rate this movie as a C for effort. It has a good plot, but it was extremely predictable.

--Sam S.