The Stepfather 2009

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: That last stormy night of violence should be the shocker. Giving away his ruthlessness in earlier killings robs the movie of it its payoff as it saps the climax of much of its power. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: A clumsy remake of the 1987 cult thriller. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Even by horror-remake standards, The Stepfather sets the bar for pointlessness. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Better to honor history and rent the original. Read more

Cliff Doerksen, Chicago Reader: This perfunctory retread had a tame, made-for-TV feel, and not just because the humdrum cast is composed of network and cable B-listers. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The trouble with the movie, apart from its rather monotonous dourness of tone, is that everyone in the family... comes off as tougher, smarter, and quicker on the draw than the stepfather who's supposed to be outfoxing them. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, L.A. Weekly: The Stepfather is, finally, only as good as its stepfather -- and Dylan Walsh ain't bad. Read more

Nigel Floyd, Time Out: Not so much a contemporary re-make of Joseph Ruben's 1987 psychological thriller as a lobotomised bastard step-child: over-plotted, over-long, and stripped of the original's sharp, satirical subversion of suburban family values. Read more

John Anderson, Variety: It's hard to get absorbed in a story with so many unresolved issues. Read more