PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological*
Director Jeff Burr's follow-up to the well-regarded 1987 STEPFATHER-- the only cinematic writing-credit for John Auerbach, mostly employed in the sound department-- is about as dull s sequel as one can imagine.
Some of the routine situations go with the territory. Psycho-killer Jerry Blake, apparently slain at the end of the original film, must come back from the dead in order to make a sequel possible. In addition, though he's imprisoned in a psychiatric ward, he must be assigned one of the stupidest head-shrinkers of all time, in order to facilitate Blake's easy escape. Yet, for the only time in Blake's career, he resorts to a murder-method at odds with his usual clubbings and stabbings: in a work-shop he fashions a tiny doll designed to intrigue the psychiatrist, and then reveals that there's a tiny knife inside the doll, with which he stabs the doctor to death.
After his escape, Blake manages, with ridiculous ease, to take over the practice of the deceased psychiatrist. This identity gives him access to his favorite hunting-ground: women who no longer have unified families. This stratagem makes it easier for the scriptwriter, who doesn't have to worry about co-ordinating Blake's efforts to meet, and prey upon, new families. Indeed, Auerbach dumps the idea of showing Blake ever moving on to new territory, since the film only has him court one woman, Carol. In contrast to Blake's previous victim, Carol has a young son rather than a teenaged daughter, and Blake genuinely tries to bond with the youth. However, Carol's divorced husband makes an attempt to get back with her. This interference with Blake's quest for the perfect family-- as well as the detective efforts of Carol's snoopy friend-- sets Blake on another killing-spree.
The film's one moderately good scene appears when Blake, not long after killing Carol's old husband, sincerely commiserates with young boy Todd, who feels guilty about having spurned his real father's attempts to get to know him again. These are the only scenes that actor Terry O'Quinn seems invested in, but there's no other subtlety in the film, where the mad family-man screams catchphrases like "Make room for Daddy!" (It's also the sequel's subtitle.) The script shows no insight into Blake's "perfect family" psychosis, while both Carol and Todd seem enormously stupid not to tip to the new boyfriend's eccentricities. As in the previous film, Blake is killed by the combined efforts of his fiancee and her son, on the very day Blake is supposed to marry Carol. After killing the psycho, the bloodied woman and her offspring march down the aisle in what is meant to be a parody of the wedding-ritual. What, in their condition, they felt they just had to consult the priest at the podium, rather than hailing the first person they saw and asking for help?
STEPFATHER 3 certainly had nowhere to go but up, and Gus Magar, who co-wrote the second sequel, definitely concocts a better stew. Terry O'Quinn did the film a great favor by passing on another outing for Blake, since this required Magar to come up with a reason for Blake to get facial surgery, so that he could played by a new actor (Robert Wightman). The opening scenes, in which Blake persuades a crooked doctor to make the changes and then kills the greedy physician, are easily the film's strongest elements.
Wightman's take is not the faux-avuncular "Father Knows Best" figure this time, but a somewhat immature figure. Blake's first job in his new identity is that of working at a plant nursery, and he's first seen dressed up like an Easter Bunny, distributing colored eggs to kids at a Catholic church event. Through the resident priest Father Ernest, Blake-- now using the name Keith-- makes contact wth another divorceee, Christine, who like the previous victim also has a preteen son, Andy. However, the Magar script throws in some new wrinkles. Andy is confined to a wheelchair, and sees through Blake's trying-too-hard charade. Andy also plays detective-games with Father Ernest, so that when Andy must play sleuth for real, it becomes a little more probable. True, as soon as the script alludes to the possibility that Andy's disabled status may be psychosomatic, the viewer knows that he WILL get up out of the chair at a crucial moment. But before that happens, there's a strong scene in which Blake tries to force Andy to get up out the chair and play football, and this captures some of the fatherhood-mania seen in the first film.
There's also a little more attention paid to the original concept of Blake always looking around for a more perfect family. Nevertheless, once Blake died his third death, I doubt too many viewers regretted the end of his psycho-career (not counting remakes).
Director Jeff Burr's follow-up to the well-regarded 1987 STEPFATHER-- the only cinematic writing-credit for John Auerbach, mostly employed in the sound department-- is about as dull s sequel as one can imagine.
Some of the routine situations go with the territory. Psycho-killer Jerry Blake, apparently slain at the end of the original film, must come back from the dead in order to make a sequel possible. In addition, though he's imprisoned in a psychiatric ward, he must be assigned one of the stupidest head-shrinkers of all time, in order to facilitate Blake's easy escape. Yet, for the only time in Blake's career, he resorts to a murder-method at odds with his usual clubbings and stabbings: in a work-shop he fashions a tiny doll designed to intrigue the psychiatrist, and then reveals that there's a tiny knife inside the doll, with which he stabs the doctor to death.
After his escape, Blake manages, with ridiculous ease, to take over the practice of the deceased psychiatrist. This identity gives him access to his favorite hunting-ground: women who no longer have unified families. This stratagem makes it easier for the scriptwriter, who doesn't have to worry about co-ordinating Blake's efforts to meet, and prey upon, new families. Indeed, Auerbach dumps the idea of showing Blake ever moving on to new territory, since the film only has him court one woman, Carol. In contrast to Blake's previous victim, Carol has a young son rather than a teenaged daughter, and Blake genuinely tries to bond with the youth. However, Carol's divorced husband makes an attempt to get back with her. This interference with Blake's quest for the perfect family-- as well as the detective efforts of Carol's snoopy friend-- sets Blake on another killing-spree.
The film's one moderately good scene appears when Blake, not long after killing Carol's old husband, sincerely commiserates with young boy Todd, who feels guilty about having spurned his real father's attempts to get to know him again. These are the only scenes that actor Terry O'Quinn seems invested in, but there's no other subtlety in the film, where the mad family-man screams catchphrases like "Make room for Daddy!" (It's also the sequel's subtitle.) The script shows no insight into Blake's "perfect family" psychosis, while both Carol and Todd seem enormously stupid not to tip to the new boyfriend's eccentricities. As in the previous film, Blake is killed by the combined efforts of his fiancee and her son, on the very day Blake is supposed to marry Carol. After killing the psycho, the bloodied woman and her offspring march down the aisle in what is meant to be a parody of the wedding-ritual. What, in their condition, they felt they just had to consult the priest at the podium, rather than hailing the first person they saw and asking for help?
STEPFATHER 3 certainly had nowhere to go but up, and Gus Magar, who co-wrote the second sequel, definitely concocts a better stew. Terry O'Quinn did the film a great favor by passing on another outing for Blake, since this required Magar to come up with a reason for Blake to get facial surgery, so that he could played by a new actor (Robert Wightman). The opening scenes, in which Blake persuades a crooked doctor to make the changes and then kills the greedy physician, are easily the film's strongest elements.
Wightman's take is not the faux-avuncular "Father Knows Best" figure this time, but a somewhat immature figure. Blake's first job in his new identity is that of working at a plant nursery, and he's first seen dressed up like an Easter Bunny, distributing colored eggs to kids at a Catholic church event. Through the resident priest Father Ernest, Blake-- now using the name Keith-- makes contact wth another divorceee, Christine, who like the previous victim also has a preteen son, Andy. However, the Magar script throws in some new wrinkles. Andy is confined to a wheelchair, and sees through Blake's trying-too-hard charade. Andy also plays detective-games with Father Ernest, so that when Andy must play sleuth for real, it becomes a little more probable. True, as soon as the script alludes to the possibility that Andy's disabled status may be psychosomatic, the viewer knows that he WILL get up out of the chair at a crucial moment. But before that happens, there's a strong scene in which Blake tries to force Andy to get up out the chair and play football, and this captures some of the fatherhood-mania seen in the first film.
There's also a little more attention paid to the original concept of Blake always looking around for a more perfect family. Nevertheless, once Blake died his third death, I doubt too many viewers regretted the end of his psycho-career (not counting remakes).
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