stepfather Tagged Articles at Cinematical

A few months back, Chris let you know that the remake of The Stepfather was most definitely moving forward with Dylan Walsh (Nip/Tuck) in the title role, Nelson McCormick (Prom Night) in the director's chair, and J.S. Cardone (The Covenant) on adaptation duty. (Also previously announced was the involvement of actors Sela Ward, Penn Badgley and Adrienne Palicki.) And to those who might not remember the 1987 Joseph Ruben thriller, here's a recap: There's this crazy guy who likes to kill families, and ... oh, you should probably just rent it. It stars another currently-popular TV actor in a very entertaining performance.

So now comes word from Bloody-Disgusting.com that two more familiar faces have joined the fray. For your nine bucks you'll not only get Walsh and Ward, but also the ever-cool Christopher Meloni and the always-adorable Sherry Stringfield. (The actors are best known for a pair of TV series with two-letter titles. Can you name them?) Production on the Stepfather remake begins in late March ... which means the flick should arrive just in time to snag that early January horror spot that somehow seems to gush money every damn year.

Plus it's a Sony remake. And that means PG-13 all the way.

And no, I'm not talking about those plans to remake that (classic?) 1987 horror flick The Stepfather. Yeah, this one sounds just a tiny bit better. According to the Hollywood Reporter (who deserve a few props for their fabulous new site design), Paramount Vantage has nabbed Stepfather off a pitch by Brian Burns (Entourage). Hey, and guess who else decided to stick their names in? Why, none other than Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Chris Henchy, who will produce the pic via their Gary Sanchez Prods.

Stepfather is being described as a "broad comedy" that "takes a look at the perfect stepfather's impact on the family dynamic." I'm not sure what they mean by the "perfect stepfather," though I suppose that involves a guy who doesn't drink, smoke and scream at the kids. Currently, there's no word on whether Ferrell will star, though we assume Burns will pen the script (possibly with help from Ferrell and McKay since it seems that's how they like to roll).

Perhaps the funniest part of this story came in McKay's description of how their production company's namesake, Gary Sanchez, took the news. Says McKay, "When Will, Chris and I first told Gary Sanchez about this, a tear came to his eye, for Gary was raised by a stepfather. But when we told him about the comedic take Brian had on the subject, he let out a laugh that echoed throughout the valleys of Paraguay. 'Buy it,' he said. Then we drank and shot skeet. That's how most of our meetings end -- shooting clay pigeons." Most believe Sanchez is a fictional character the boys conjured up, but they insist he's an ex-NFL kicker from Paraguay.

Sigh. This is getting a little ridiculous. I mean, I can understand why someone would want to remake The Amityville Horror or The Omen or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: They're well-known movies that have built-in fanbases and lots of handy "name recognition." But The Stepfather...? I mean ... huh?

Joseph Ruben's 1987 follow-up to the wonderfully doofy Dreamscape, The Stepfather is about a mild-mannered lunatic who slaughters his whole family, only to get cozy with a new one right quick. Unfortunately, the new family doesn't always stack up to Stepdad's lofty standards, which means that knives are more than likely to become involved before all is said and done. Written by genre master Donald E. Westlake, The Stepfather is actually quite the solid little B-movie, and one that features a fantastically unhinged performance by Terry O'Quinn.

So yeah: Screen Gems is remaking the thing, just like they did The Fog and When a Stranger Calls -- which probably tells you all you need to know about the project. No word yet on who'll be writing / directing the remake, but it'll probably be a newcomer and a refugee from MTV.