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Fresh and Exciting

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

I never quite understood the hype around the first Stepfather. It shows up on a lot of Top 50 horror lists like Entertainment Weekly. I find the second one to be far more realistic and truer to my own experience with my stepfather. The scene at the wedding was harrowing and definitely conjured up some of my past trauma, the sign of a good stepfather movie. The third one is even more realistic and relatable for me, especially the scene with the woodchipper, but that's a whole other story. In short, this is a strong underrated sequel and better than the original.

As far as inevitable and unnecessary sequels go, the adequately acted and directed "Stepfather II: Make Room for Daddy" suffers from the fact that we've seen all of this before and will know everything that we can expect. This simply fails to bring anything new to the table. The main reason why it would work (and earn an extra point) is because the filmmakers were able to bring back the original Stepfather, the great Terry O'Quinn, to once again obsess over his search for the "perfect" family and idealized suburban life.As we see from the opening, our merry psycho has survived being shot and stabbed (naturally) and been sent to the nuthouse. Wouldn't you know it: he figures out a method of escaping and hightails it for a different area, and quickly gets up to all of his old tricks. Masquerading this time as a psychiatrist, he sets his sights on real estate agent Carol Grayland (Meg Foster), the single mother of a son named Todd (Jonathan Brandis). Assuming the identity of a "Gene Clifford", he worms his way into their lives.Too much of this is utterly predictable, including characters who seem intelligent but end up acting completely stupid. Director Jeff Burr, whose other horror sequel credits include "Pumpkinhead II" and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre III", does manage to create some suspense, and creates a few amusing touches here and there. He does the best he can with the uninspired script.Foster and Brandis are reasonably appealing, and Caroline Williams of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" fame offers an engaging presence in the supporting role of Carols' concerned friend Matty who's suspicious of Gene; Mitchell Laurance is appropriately smarmy in his brief turn as the unreliable ex-husband / father.Dedicated horror fans may derive some entertainment out of this; others are advised to stay away.Followed by another sequel, "Stepfather III" sans O'Quinn; this movies' premiere coincided with the arrest of real-life murderer John List, whose story inspired the script for the first movie.Six out of 10.

The disturbed man looking for the perfect family, and will do anything to get it, is back at it again in 'Stepfather II: Make room for Daddy'. We pick up shortly after the original film, and see that the man formerly known as Jerry Blake is inside of a psychiatric facility serving his sentence for all the murders and attempts he committed. He breaks out early on and changes his persona yet again to a psychiatrist named Gene, this time targeting single mother Carol and her teenage son Todd. After brutally dispatching people in the way of him building a life with them, Gene makes it to the church on his wedding day ... but will he get through the ceremony without losing his mind completely?Terry Quinn I thought 'Stepfather II' was really interesting in the sense that it separated itself from the other two films. In parts one and three, the stepchildren (Stephanie in 1 and Andy in 3) disliked the stepfather a lot. They could see that something was off with him, and it never really clicked. In this sequel, the son Todd really liked Gene the stepfather and looked up to him as a role model of sorts. His father just up and left him and his mom, so the writers did a great job of establishing Todd's need for a male figure. It kind of makes it all the more sad when it's revealed how sick Gene really is.Terry Quinn puts in an amazing performance yet again as the deranged man who would kill for a perfect family unit. Meg Foster did really well as the mother Carol as did Jonathan Brandis as Todd. I liked the friend Maddie that they gave Carol, played by Caroline Williams. She was really good too. It lacked the intensity of the original film, but 'Stepfather II' is still very well done. The finale at the church as Gene prepares for his wedding is also very creepy.. and perhaps very bloody. I recommend this one!7/10

Though the first was slightly better, I wouldn't count this sequel out. 'Stepfather 2: Make Room for Daddy' was all but equal (if not for the horrid closing) in reference to acting of the extras and the suburb job O'Quinn did on both. And with such a short film (I consider anything under 1½ hours short) I loved the long intro with Stepfather working his psycho madness on his psychologist. Honestly, they were good scenes. And then you're thrust back into Stepfather's routine of finding lost souls to take down. I will say this for #2: there was a lot of humor that despite it being a real b-movie, should've-been-direct to video, that still makes me laugh out loud. Also, I loved Meg Foster (back in 1989 when I first saw it) and those eyes – they mesmerized me. Today's watching makes me cringe at her acting, but still, those eyes. The biggest problems with the film happen towards the middle and second half. Again we get this Stepfather that apparently is invincible in regards to all the traces of DNA, evidence, fingerprints, etc around and a mail carrier who (in broad daylight) snoops around people's mail, opens it and then actually brags about it. Sure, it's a movie, but that was harder to shallow than Stepfather getting away with all this. And finally, the rushed end-job was so out of left field (see them walking down the isle) it all-but almost ruined the movie. Again, O'Quinn saves the movie with his solid Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, a role he played so perfectly in 1 & 2. On a side note, I remember seeing this 11/10/89 (almost 20 years ago) and geekly enough, I still have the movie stub. Without having seeing #1 and only 14, I loved it back then.Side Note (basically just for my own fond memories): Yes, I am a geek; I collect/save my movie stubs. Well, since 1989 and I thought the one I saved on 11/10/1989 for 'Stepfather 2: Make Room for Daddy' was the first (I actually have that summer's as well: 'Batman' et al.) I remember seeing this movie at UA Metro (which has been destroyed for many years now) farthest left screen and alone, but they must've not carded as I was 14. I used to ride my bike roughly 3½ miles to Metrocenter in Phoenix, AZ, get a small cheese pizza at Peter Piper Pizza next door with a drink and then ride over to see whatever playing. Those were the good ole days, when I wasn't so critical about movies and just loved the thrill of going. That being said, still, to date, 1989 is my favorite movie year of all time: 'Batman,' 'Lethal Weapon 2,' 'The Little Mermaid,' 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,' 'Back to the Future Part II,' 'A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child' and even 'License to Kill,' 'Ghostbusters 2' (I still have my glow-in-the-dark 'Ghostbusters 2' AMC cup, and yes, it still works) and 'Star Trek V: The Final Frontier' were fun to watch, because it was fun to go to the movies. I'm sure I'm missing some I saw that year (such as this movie) or in the years following (I just checked to see at least a 100 more I loved that year.) Maybe it's just the excitement of finally getting out on my own, my own bike, and watching dozens of movies (many 2-3+ times) that make 1989 so magical. Maybe that the studios were looking to make quality over box office. Though I am sure they wanted to make money, but look at 1990 since and how it became almost ONLY about money.Just now, looking at the list of 1989 releases, I am in total agreeance with my statement. 1989 was the best year for movies of all time. (Yes, this is all placed in a review for 'Stepfather 2,' and no, I wouldn't put this anywhere near the top of that year. I am mainly speaking of the experience.) Look for yourself and see how many you used to love, or still do.