The Stepfather

                 Daddy's Home and He's Not Very Happy

The film opens with a man washing blood from himself before shaving his beard, replacing his glasses with contact lens and putting a few of his belongings into a suitcase. After packing his things, the man leaves through the front door of his house.....passing the butchered remains of his family, whom he had earlier murdered. Boarding a ferry, this man disposes of the suitcase containing the objects from his former life by throwing it into the ocean.

One year later, the same man (operating under the identity of a real estate agent named Jerry Blake) has married a widow, Susan Maine. Jerry's relationship with Susan's daughter Stephanie is strained, as Stephanie is highly suspicious of Jerry, despite his acts of kindness, such as giving her a puppy as a gift. After a session with her psychiatrist Doctor Bondulant (Charles Lanyer), who advises her to give Jerry a chance, Stephanie is driven home by Jerry, who suggests they work together to build a better relationship, also stating that he and Susan hope she will try to be a better student at school, where Stephanie is having trouble. After his discussion with Stephanie, Jerry shows off a house to a family, momentarily confusing his current identity with a previous one while playing with the family's daughter. As Jerry works, Stephanie gets into a fight at school and is expelled. Over dinner Stephanie reveals her expulsion to her parents and suggests she try boarding school, a suggestion which is rebuffed by Jerry on the premise it will break the family up.

In Seattle, Jim Ogilvie (Stephen Shellen), the brother of one of Jerry's previous victims, convinces a reporter to run an article about his sister's slayer in the newspaper. While hosting a neighborhood barbecue, Jerry discovers the article and is clearly disturbed by it. Excusing himself from the festivities, Jerry goes into the basement of the house and begins rambling to himself, unaware that Stephanie is in the basement as well. Discovering his stepdaughter's presence, Jerry brushes off his outbursts by saying he was simply letting off some accumulated stress. Leaving the basement, Stephanie finds the newspaper mentioning Jerry's earlier killings and comes to believe her stepfather is the murderer Henry Morrison mentioned in the article.

Stephanie writes a letter to the newspaper requesting a photo of Henry Morrison; when the photo arrives the mail, Jerry finds and hides it from Stephanie after she comes home from a session with Dr. Bondurant. After hiding the photo, Jerry thrashes about in the basement and contemplates killing Susan and Stephanie, but is brought to his senses when Susan yells to him, saying that Dr. Bondurant is calling asking to speak to him. Jerry refuses to answer the phone, having Susan tell the doctor that he is out. Curious as to why Jerry is avoiding him, Doctor Bondurant pretends to be a man named Ray Martin and calls Jerry at the real estate agency under the pretence of wanting to buy a house. As Jerry schedules a meeting with Bondurant, Stephanie opens an envelope addressed to her in the mail and finds a fake photo of Henry Morrison that Jerry had planted to protect his identity. Stephanie is tricked into believing her suspicions of Jerry are false.

During his meeting with Bondurant, Jerry becomes increasingly suspicious of the man, who continually questions him about his home life. Realizing Bondurant is not who he says he is, Jerry beats him to death with wooden board. After discovering Bondurant's identity as his stepdaughter's psychiatrist, Jerry makes Bondulant's death look like an accident, blowing up the doctor's car with his body inside it. The next day, Jerry informs Stephanie of Bondurant's death in an apparent car accident and suceeds in bonding with the mournful Stephanie. Jerry's newfound relationship with his stepdaughter is quickly cut short when he catches Stephanie kissing a boy named Paul Baker (Jeff Schultz). Jerry's wild accusations of Paul attempting to rape Stephanie result in him getting into an argument with Stephanie and Susan, which in term sees the daughter running away. Realizing all hope of having a happy life with Susan and Stephanie has been ruined, Jerry quits his job and creates a new identity for himself, applying for a job in another town, where he begins to court another widow.

Having discovered where Jerry is now living, Jim Ogilvie begins going door to door through town in search of his former brother in-law. After Jim stops by, Susan phones the real estate agency to tell Jerry that someone was looking for him, only to be informed that Jerry had quit several days ago. Confronting Jerry when he returns home, Susan is told by Jerry that there must have been a mix-up. While explaining himself to Susan, Jerry confuses his identity with the new one he had crafted and attacks Susan, beating her with the phone before knocking her down the basement stairs. Content that Susan is dead, Jerry prepares to kill Stephanie when she returns home and begins showering when Jim knocks on the door, having concluded that Jerry is Henry Morrison.

Ambushing Jim when he enters the house, Jerry stabs him in the stomach with a knife before attacking Stephanie. Sustaining a wound to the arm when Stephanie stabs him with a piece of glass, Jerry follows his stepdaughter into the attic, where he corners her. Before he can kill Stephanie, Jerry falls through the weak floor of the attic, but recovers from the fall quickly and renews his attack on Stephanie when she tries to escape. Before he can harm Stephanie, Jerry is shot twice by a still living Susan, who had retrieved Jim's gun. Feebly trying to reclaim his knife after being shot, Jerry is stabbed in the chest by Stephanie, who grabs the knife before he can. Uttering a weak "I love you" to Stephanie, Jerry falls down the stairs, seemingly dead. The film ends with Stephanie cutting down the birdhouse she and Jerry had put up during the brief time they had bonded with one another.

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