Rish Outfield's reviews
Terry O'Quinn rules! One of the big arguments tyranist and I have had was over who we were supposed to root for in Stepfather. While I understand his reservations, I felt for O'Quinn's character, wanted him to stay normal, and wanted him to get away with it. He was so charismatic, intelligent, and prominently-featured that it was hard not to like him (though, somehow, tyranist didn't). What's-her-name...Jill Scholen is supposed to be the hero here, but I wanted her dead from the first minute. She does get naked though, folks, and I was surprised by that since she notoriously follows the Jamie Lee Curtis rule in her other horror movies. This is a good movie, people, regardless of what you've heard. It's well-thought-out, smart, entertaining, and has a satisfying conclusion. Some found it boring, but a movie doesn't have to have an exploding torso every minute to be interesting.
Best Scare: Possibly just his efficiency and calm while killing.
I'd Recommend It To: About any horror fan.

The tyranist's thoughts
I'm as big a Jill Schoelen as anyone short of her mother, but this movie bugged me. It was very well done with high production values, a well-executed concept, and good acting. My problem was with the first hour (hence two-thirds) of the movie. It was so slow and dragged. They movie opens with the revelation of who the killer is (of course, it would have been self-defeating not to tell us, since the title kind of gives it away). We then watch him maintain his semblance of a normal life for the next hour. It grated on my nerves. Rish was of exactly the opposite opinion. He loves the killer. In fact, he liked him so much that he insisted that this movie gets a skull for Villain is more sympathetic than heroes. I strongly disagree. I hated him from the first moment to the last. You'll probably have to see it yourself to really decide, but go in knowing that you will either love Terry O'Quinn's character or hate him and that will be the difference in how much you like the movie.
Having said that, I will say that the last half hour is very good. Once the action starts the movie takes about three steps up. Suddenly the dialogue is all great, the characters are all exactly as they should be. Westlake wrote an amazingly convincing and sudden finale.