I liked the highly regarded original, but wasn't particularly wowed over by it. As sequels go, "Stepfather II" is quite unnecessary, but an entertainingly fine and well done addition nonetheless by genre director Jeff Burr with the likes of a earnest Meg Foster, a scene-stealing Caroline Williams and Terry O'Quinn shinning again with that creepy intensity brimming from his calculative performance making the film larger than it truly deserves. Gone is the slow-winding, low-key suspense of the original replaced with unpleasantly over-the-top violence and darkly wry humour in a more straight-forward slasher style, as it goes to show the lengths this committed family man would go to end up with the desirably perfect family (life), but this would also go onto help with his own downfall. After escaping a psychiatric institution, Gerald 'Jerry' Blake heads to "Palm Meadow Estates" to rebuild his ideal family in the disguise of a family psychiatrist Dr. Gene Clifford. There he catches the eye of his real estate agent Carol Grayland and her young son, but whenever a certain obstacle gets in the way of his tailored dream he reverts back to what he knows best. Director Jeff Burr's bright handling makes able headway, as it's snappily paced and there are some spontaneous touches amongst its systematic narrative. The ominous music score is titillatingly arranged in drawing in the high strung tension and twisted jolts.
