I Watch Films: Stepfather III

 

Stepfather III

After being re-stabbed and re-captured at the end of Stepfather II, our titular figure escapes again and gets plastic surgery (the part has been recast), then kills the surgeon. Chameleon-like, he moves to a small California town, takes the name Keith Grant and a job at a garden centre, also maintaining people’s gardens. At the Easter Dance he’s dressed as a bunny, but still charms Christine, a divorced schoolteacher with a wheelchair-using son, Andy.

Christine’s ex-boyfriend acts aggressively, following Keith home. Keith responds by suggesting they talk it out, then kills him with a shovel and buries him in the garden.

Andy is big into crime, including a crime show that does updates on unexplained mysteries. This keeps showing unconnected bits of Keith’s past. In addition he has a computer that has a game where he has to solve murders; he shares this enthusiasm with the Priest, Father Brennan. Having fallen in love with Keith, and wanting a father for Andy, Christine marries Keith.

Then Andy’s father wants to take Andy away to his family for the summer. To Keith’s annoyance he goes, and they also discover Christine is infertile. Then Jennifer, a widow, and her son Nicholas sublet Keith’s cottage. He starts to court Jennifer.

Trying to date two women and hide everything doesn’t work. Every time he kills someone to make the problems go away, it leaves another gaping hole in his story. For that matter, the façade is thinner than ever in these films; learning that Andy has no physical bar to walking again he tries to get him up and out, even tipping him out the chair*. Keith decides to move on when family life isn’t what he wants, and his impatience makes him the very cheating man that he is offended by in others and when accused.

The ending is pretty final this time (until they rebooted it later).

Watch This: Slasher sequel, more remixing the Stepfather elements
Don’t Watch This: Murder, cheating, lying

* Because it’s that kind of film, Andy being in the wheelchair makes a predictable impact on the final scene.