Horror Movie Review – Stepfather II: Make Room for Daddy (1992)

Stepfather II: Make Room for Daddy is a direct sequel to The Stepfather (1987). Stepfather II was directed by Jeff Burr, releasing in 1992. What’s that? You thought Jerry had been fatally stabbed? Well, think again! Because he survived and Terry O’Quinn is back in the saddle. After surviving being shot and stabbed at the end of the previous film, Jerry Blake is institutionalized.

The events of the previous film is recapped in the form of a nightmare that Jerry has. We see him living in a pretty nice looking mental hospital, that’s justice for his actions I suppose. He has regular meetings with a foolish psychiatrist who believes that Jerry is someone he can help. Jerry does what he does best and gains their trust before killing them as well as a guard. He dons the guard’s uniform to help him escape. Arriving at a train depot, Blake kills and robs a traveling salesman for his car and money. Blake checks into a hotel, alters his appearance, assumes the identity of deceased publisher Gene F. Clifford, and travels to Los Angeles.

Gene poses as a psychiatrist and soon meets Carol Grayland and leases a house across the street from her and her 13-year-old son Todd. During a session with the neighbourhood wives, Gene learns that Carol’s husband Philip left his family the previous year. Gene begins courting Carol, eventually winning over her and Todd. Unfortunately for Gene, Phil returns, wanting to reconcile with his wife.

Needing Phil out of the way, Gene persuades Carol to send him over for a meeting, during which Gene smashes a bottle on his head then stabs him to death. He covers up Phil’s disappearance afterward by making it look like he simply ran off again. With Phil gone, Gene and Carol arrange to get married.

Matty Crimmins, local mail carrier and Carol’s best friend, becomes suspicious of Gene and begins looking through Gene’s mail. She finds a letter addressed to the real Gene Clifford (which includes a photograph revealing him to be African American). She confronts Gene, demanding to know who he really is. Gene persuades her to let him tell Carol the truth about his past. Later that night, after making love to Carol, Gene sneaks into Matty’s house and strangles her to death, making her death look like a suicide. On his way out, Gene takes Matty’s last bottle of wine and crosses through the yard of Matty’s blind neighbour Sam Watkins, who hears Gene whistling “Camptown Races,” which he mentions to Carol the next day.

Despite Matty’s death, the wedding proceeds as planned. While dressing in the church, Carol recognizes bottles of wine sent by Matty’s parents as the same brand Gene had the other night, and overhears Todd whistling “Camptown Races”, which he says Gene taught him…….

Stepfather II is a mixed bag of a film. In some ways, it’s better than its predecessor but then in numerous other ways it’s weaker. Firstly, one of my main complaints about the first film was that it didn’t allow us to see the fallout after his supposed death. Now, we know he survived and was convicted so I really hoped we’d get to see that all play out but again we don’t at all. Terry O’Quinn is good here but not quite the same heights as the original. Still, not bad by any means. I just felt like we saw more of his duel nature in the first which I liked. I don’t know why but Gene is less subtle and more unhinged which didn’t work for me. In some ways, it felt like they had taken someone smart and meticulous and severely dumbed them down.

The specific whistle Gene does is an important plot point but then why the heck didn’t he do it once in the original? Is it something that he feels Gene would do or am I just overthinking bad writing?

One area in which this sequel is lacking is the gore. Sure, the first wasn’t exactly abundant in it either but certain aspects should be stepped up. Apparently, the gore that is there was added via rushed reshoots and man can you tell.

I wanted to see the process that Jerry/Gene goes through when integrating into a new family and we get that here or at least I thought we did. It goes from Gene and Carol kissing to now they’re engaged which does nothing to help you feel invested in their relationship. Gene has much more chemistry with Todd but it doesn’t really go anywhere which is a shame. An aspect I did enjoy is that the film generates a certain level of sympathy for Gene that you just can’t help but feel. Sure, he’s a psychotic monster but he just wants a family to love damn it!

The finale is just plain silly to be honest.

Strangely, there’s no mention of any kind of search for Gene/Jerry. I mean, he’s a convicted mass murderer who killed a doctor and others. Call me crazy but that sounds like big news to me. You’d think that would cause a national wide search with reports about it everywhere. For some reason, it just isn’t mentioned. This was probably done so that the movie could happen so I can’t really argue with that.

Overall, Stepfather II is an okay continuation of the story. You get more of the same but with certain deviations that will divide fans of the original. I would say you’d be fine to skip this one and just watch the original if you felt like it.