Year – 1987
Decade – 1980s
Cinematographer – John Lindley (imdb link)
Director – Joseph Ruben (imdb link)
Aspect Ratio – 1.85
Genre – Horror
Lenses – Spherical
Format – 35mm
Key Words
Shot-by-Shot Scene Breakdowns Camera Moves
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The Movie
A seemingly bland suburban realtor (Terry O’Quinn) marries into a widowed family and reacts violently when the clan doesn’t live up to his ideal of family values.
A link has frequently been drawn between the violence in the horror films of the 1980s – particularly the slasher flicks of the era – and the decade’s shift toward moral conservatism. When characters flaunted the tenants of the religious right that flourished under Reagan, their demise was swift. Have sex and you die. Take drugs and you die. Joseph Ruben’s clever low-budget thriller The Stepfather is one of the few films to intentionally and explicitly make that connection, presenting a portrait of unhinged patriarchy raging against the white middle class male’s dwindling influence that still feels relevant 30 years later.
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