.: Roberts' Reviews - Movie Reviews :.

Since no film or franchise is longer sacred, it is no surprise that a reboot of the 1987 classic thriller, The Stepfather was green-lit by Screen Gems and brought to theatres in the fall of 2009. The original starred Terry O'Quinn (Lost) as a stepfather serial killer, which might sound a bit like televisions Dexter, but this particular stepfather kills the members of his own family before moving cities and settling down with another unit.

Stepping into the Terry O'Quinn role is Dylan Walsh, better known as Dr. Sean McNamara on television's Nip/Tuck. Walsh plays David Harris and we get introduced to the type of person and father he embodies rather quickly. The opening sequence shows David leaving a house that has slaughtered family members scattered amongst the family room's Christmas gifts. David calmly drinks from his mug and washes the cup in the same sink where bloodied tools he used to slaughter his family lay unhidden. The audience can immediately determine that David is a psychopath that thinks he is smart enough to leave evidence behind in the wake of his violent fury.

David then moves to his new town where he meets Susan (Sela Ward) and within months the two start planning their wedding. And why not? David is good-looking and would give the impression that he wouldn't hurt a fly. Not to mention he says all the right things like, "Family is the most important thing. Without it, we have nothing." He's a foot massage expert away from being near perfect.

But not everyone in David's new family is taken by their stepfather's charm. Sean, the younger son sees sides to David's rage that others have yet to experience and Michael, who has just come back from military school gets increasingly suspicious and soon solicits the aide of his girlfriend (the hot Amber Heard) and friends in an attempt to dig into David's background to confirm his doubts about his new family member.

The first crack in David's façade comes when a neighbor believes she has seen David on an episode of America's Most Wanted. When Michael has lunch with David and David mixes up names in his cover story, the stage is set for Michaels interrogative questions that will eventually lead to the truth about David's past and unravel both the family unit and their stepfather's temper.

Hardly on par with the original, The Stepfather tries too hard where the original just let O'Quinn be idiosyncratic. Having David show his rage in choking young Sean or his creepiness by spying on his older son getting-it-on with his girlfriend revealed too much too early and took away from any charm that David might have had working for him (how would you react when you found out your young son was physically abused by a man you have only known a few months?).

The longer David stays with his new family, the more he confuses his facts and the harder he has to try to keep his past from resurfacing. And although Dylan Walsh doesn't fail miserably representing the role, he doesn't have the same ick-factor that O'Quinn brought to the role. Walsh plays David as more mean spirited and overt in his madness and that takes away from a lot of the ambiguity of the character.

When it comes to scares or blood, The Stepfather is skimpy on both. Throwing someone down a flight of stairs or killing them by suffocating them in a plastic bag, aren't exactly blood gushing homicides. But that's what a PG-13 rating will get you. The majority of the scares will come from David appearing out of nowhere time and time and time again.

As shallow as it is to report, the best thing about The Stepfather is having Amber Heard as Micheal's girlfriend Kelly, parading around in skimpy underwear and bikini's for the majority of her screen time.

The final analysis once the full 101 minutes have run their course is that The Stepfather is an average thriller that wants you to believe that the central character is smart enough to get away with massacring families in different cities, but dumb enough to keep evidence in a storage closet in his new family's basement. And to believe that the he can always be one step ahead of his questioners while consistently being in the right place at the right time. And when he isn't a step ahead, he is behind a door, around a corner or just lurking in the background until the jettisoned music wants to make you aware he is in the room.

Losing stars by the universe-ful during the final chapters which have every thriller cliché in the book thrown at its audience - a cell phone's battery dies, a storm happens the same night as the killing, people will run up the stairs instead of out of the house - The Stepfather goes from promise to unfulfilled potential. You know, just like a stepfather.