Movies
The Stepfather (remake)
“I’m as unhappy about the rash of PG-13 remakes as anyone out there, but somehow (and I’m as incredulous as anybody), The Stepfather doesn’t qualify as one of the failures. It’s a solid film with crackerjack casting, something suddenly intense you might catch on cable and can’t stop watching.”
Each year more and more R-rated horror classics are being remade into PG-13 tweener fare, and die-hard horror fans are understandably miffed. Hollywood studios eagerly gut the original films of all provocative content with the sole purpose of selling more tickets to the little ‘uns. The vast majority of the time a hardcore R-rated classic is neutered of all sex and violence until it’s whittled down to a bland, PG-13 nub. But the opposite is true of The Stepfather, a slow, dark, R-rated drama from 1987 that has been repurposed into a fast, loose, infinitely creepy PG-13 remake.
From the opening moments, in which Dylan Walsh (Nip/Tuck) calmly packs his bags, changes his physical appearance, and leaves a home full of recently-slaughtered family members, it’s established that the stepfather is not a good guy. Like Terry O’Quinn (Locke from Lost) in the original film, he’s a man looking for the perfect family. And if he can’t find perfection…he simply kills his family and moves on to a new one.
He hooks up with single mom Sela Ward and moves in with her and her two young children. Six months later, superhot beefcake Penn Badgley (Gossip Girl) returns from military school, and tensions begin to escalate as he questions his new stepfather’s authority (although the title “The Stepfather “ becomes sort of silly when you leave the movie realizing that Dylan Walsh and Sela Ward never end up getting married). As Penn Badgley grows increasingly suspicious of his new father figure, Dylan Walsh is forced to go to greater lengths to cover up his acts of violence.
Speaking of Walsh, he carries the film entirely on his shoulders without even breaking a damn sweat. His portrayal of the stepfather is layered with a quiet menace that owns every single scene. O’Quinn’s stepfather is a complete pussy in comparison. Although the 1987 version was rated R, it only featured two onscreen deaths. The R-rating was primarily due to a brief sidelong view of O’Quinn’s naked wiener and a weirdly incongruous nude shot of 16-year-old daughter Jill Schoelen taking a shower. The PG-13 remake features a higher body count, more tension, and a powerful central performance from Walsh. It’s (dare I say it?) better than the original.
Coming across like a movie you’d kill for on a rainy afternoon—something along the lines of The Hand That Rocks the Cradle or Disturbia—this remake from director Nelson McCormack is entertaining, but still imperfect. Penn Badgley’s supremely irritating girlfriend (Amber Heard, Zombieland) elicited genuine murmurs of disgust from members of the audience at the screening I attended. I guess it’s worth noting that she spends about 80% of her screen time clad in a string bikini. Still, she was a goddamn nag.
I’m as unhappy about the rash of PG-13 remakes as anyone out there, but somehow (and I’m as incredulous as anybody), The Stepfather doesn’t qualify as one of the failures. It’s a solid film with crackerjack casting, something suddenly intense you might catch on cable and can’t stop watching.
This week kicked off with the release of hippo horror movie Hungry at home, and four more horror movies have arrived for at-home viewing as we head into the final weekend of June.
Here are the new horror movies that released on Friday, June 26, 2026!
The Halloween season can no longer be contained to the months of September and October, with “Summerween” becoming a thing in recent years. Essentially, it allows for Halloween to bleed into the warmer Summer months, and the first ever Summerween movie has arrived.
The Asylum released Summerween onto Digital outlets today.
In the film from writer/director Ryan Ebert, “On Summerween, a former circus clown escapes a mental institution to return to his abandoned mansion and hunt the teens partying there.”
Cole Chapleski, Chase Breithoff, Logan Roe, Sophia Sabol, and Clint Morrison star.
Director Ryan Ebert is the man behind a string of recent indie horrors we’ve covered, including Shark Side of the Moon, The Jolly Monkey, Jurassic Reborn, and Predator: Wastelands.
A witchy coming-of-age story from Dark Sky Films, Camp is now playing in select theaters.
Check your local listings to find a theater near you.
Camp is from writer-director Avalon Fast (Honeycomb, The Serpent’s Skin).
“Emily is the root cause of two devastating tragedies very early in her life, and she feels the weight of these accidents as though cursed. At her father’s suggestion, she takes a position at a summer camp for troubled youth to ease her guilt. When Emily arrives, she is welcomed by the other counselors, who accept her as she is and surround her with peace and forgiveness.
“As Emily begins to believe in a new kind of life, she starts to hear a voice whispering from deep in the woods — one that urges her to go home, and one that may be impossible to ignore.”
The film stars Zola Grimmer in her screen debut alongside Alice Wordsworth, Cherry Moore, Lea Rose Sebastianis (Castration Movie Part 1 & 2, In A Violent Nature), Ella Reece, Austyn Van de Kamp (This Too Shall Pass), Sophie Bawks-Smith (Honeycomb), Izza Jarvis, and Aiden Laudersmith.
Producers Tyler Perry and Jason Blum have joined forces for Peacock Original Strung.
The film is now streaming only on Peacock.
“A talented violinist takes a prestigious job as a music tutor for the gifted daughter of an influential and enigmatic family. As she becomes entangled in their opulent world, unsettling secrets begin to surface, forcing her to question her safety, her dreams, and even her sanity.”
Malcolm D. Lee (Scary Movie 5, Space Jam: A New Legacy) directs from a script written by Alan B. McElroy (Wrong Turn, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers).
Chloe Bailey (“Swarm“), Lynn Whitfield (Jaws: The Revenge), Lucien Laviscount (“Scream Queens”), Anna Diop (Us), Coco Jones (Vampires vs. the Bronx), Langley Kirkwood (“Banshee”), and Romy Woods star in Peacock’s Strung.
Produced by Diablo Cody, director Meredith Alloway’s Forbidden Fruits brought a new coven of witches to the big screen earlier this year, and it’s now streaming on Shudder.
Lola Tung (“The Summer I Turned Pretty”), Victoria Pedretti (“The Haunting of Hill House”), Alexandra Shipp (Tragedy Girls), Gabrielle Union (Breaking In), and Emma Chamberlain star in Forbidden Fruits, released by IFC and Shudder.
Free Eden employee Apple secretly runs a witchy femme cult in the basement of the mall store after hours. But when new hire Pumpkin challenges the group’s ‘girl boss’ ways, the women are forced to face their own poisons or succumb to a bloody fate.
“Forbidden Fruits grabbed me by the neck the very first time I read it,” Diablo Cody said. “It’s one of the craziest, most creative, beautifully bonkers projects I’ve ever worked on.”
Meagan Navarro writes in her review for Bloody Disgusting, “Forbidden Fruits may not necessarily forge new terrain in the teen satire space, but Alloway brings so much style and energy to her well-cast single-location stage play adaptation for the Gen Z crowd.”
The film is an adaptation of playwright Lily Houghton’s stage play Of the Women Came the Beginning of Sin and Through Her We All Die. Alloway and Houghton co-adapted.
This week’s new release roundups are presented by HUNGRY.
All aboard the swamp tour from hell – this hippo isn’t playing games…
HUNGRY is now available on Digital. Watch it now!
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