And Another

Wait a minute…

Yesterday was Terry O’Quinn’s birthday, and it reminded me to check in on that Stepfather remake. O’Quinn’s mostly known these days as Locke on Lost, for which he’s won an Emmy, but the role that brought him to prominence was the murderous Bluebeard-style killer (more precisely, John List-style killer) of The Stepfather, a 1987 flick generally billed as a slasher, but one which, if you substituted bladed hand for bladed weapon, would make a pretty serviceable afterschool special on domestic abuse. (Or, if you prefer, “Makes Fatal Attraction look like high-gloss trash!” -The Scotsman)

New version is from director Nelson McCormick and writer J.S. Cardone, the creative team behind last year’s Prom Night remake. If you liked that one, you’ll be further excited to hear that not only the crew, but some of the Prom Night sets were repurposed for Stepfather. Cardone says the new script is closet to the original John List inspiration.

Even Roger Ebert agreed that O’Quinn did a great job in the first one (Ebert used the word “wonderful”), so Dylan Walsh has big shoes to fill. Seems like fair casting, though O’Quinn still looks great (see right) and could probably do it himself. Sela Ward is the wife; the new production swaps out minor horror icon Jill Schoelen for a son, to be played by Noun Nounley of Gossip Girl. Sorry, almost neglected to fix my placeholder text there – looks like “Penn Badgley” is the proper arrangement.

At least it’ll mean a DVD transfer; the original Stepfather is curiously absent on DVD, despite a bit of a cult following. Parts 2 (“Make Room for Daddy”) and 3 (3, sans O’Quinn and attempting to make do with Robert Wightman, is especially ignored) are available, but the first never arrived in North America. A probably-unnecessary special edition of Stepfather 2 is in the works and will hit on 9/29; the DVD release of the original hits on 10/13, three days before the remake’s scheduled theatrical release.