Welcome to Day 25 of Spooky Season! It’s time for another round of Original vs. Remake!! To avoid any bias, I pick two films in a franchise that I love equally. For a while, I’ve been wanting to do an installment on two of my favorites, 1987’s and 2009’s The Stepfather. Now I finally got around to it! Both films follow a demented man desperate to find the perfect family. When he can’t seem to make his family work, heads start to roll. I hope you enjoy and let me know which one you prefer!! (REMINDER: like most of my articles, this series is all a matter of my own opinion! I don’t speak for anyone but myself!!) (MAJOR SPOILERS!!!)

As always, I like to start out with the protagonists! I normally start with the MAIN main characters, but I’m going to start with the Susans this time, because Shelley Hack’s Susan wins by a mile. Sela Ward’s Susan was unbelievably frustrating. She was so desperate to make this relationship work, she actually made it her mission to ignore all of the red flags. She hears that David put hands on one of her kids and she’s just like, “Well, at least he doesn’t cheat on me!” Everyone around her sees a problem with this guy, and she acts like they just didn’t want her to be happy. She clearly put her needs over the safety of her kids. True, Hack’s Susan did slap her daughter, I definitely didn’t forget that. She tried to make their family work because she truly didn’t see the signs that there was anything wrong with Jerry, until he revealed his true nature, of course.

Now, onto Stephanie (O) and Michael (R), the troubled teens. They’re honestly kind of tied for me, they’re both smart enough to see through their stepfathers’ ruse. Stephanie (Jill Schoelen) was definitely smarter when it came to finding out who Jerry used to be. I was very impressed with her investigative skills. They’re both miserable about their situations and they both lash out because of it. I think both did a great job at fighting when they needed to. However, I think when it comes to the actual fighting, I have to give the edge to Michael (Penn Badgley) here, he knew the problem wasn’t going to go away if he just ran and hid.

Now for the minor protagonists! I think when it came to all of them from both films, they were all very smart, yet very stupid. If you feel a man is clearly hiding something, the LAST thing you do is let him know you’re onto him! This point also goes to the original, because Jim (Stephen Shellen) was so great at tracking Jerry down all by himself. I say once again, if he didn’t go into the house with his gun in his pocket, I’d consider him to be one of the smartest horror movie characters of all time. Even Dr. Bondurant (Charles Lanyer) did a great job at analyzing Jerry before slipping up and getting himself killed. Now, in the remake, everyone let David know that they were onto him and they suspected him, either intentionally or unintentionally. They were just as conspicuous as David.

Speaking of David, it’s time to talk about our stepfathers, Jerry (O) and David (R)! I have to give this point to Jerry (Terry O’Quinn) for one specific reason. David (Dylan Walsh) wasn’t at all good at hiding who he really was. The reason Jerry was successful in infiltrating so many families is because he was great at hiding the darkness within him. Only a couple of people suspected him, everyone else was in the dark. With David, however, pretty much everyone suspected him, Susan’s ex-husband, her sister, even their neighbor knew what was up. David let his true self slip too easily, in my opinion. Plus, Jerry was very clever at moving about under everyone’s radar. He was able to set up a completely new life in another place before killing his families and starting anew. It was a routine he definitely perfected over time.

Now, we reach the overall stories of the films. Now this is very nit-picky, but… technically, David wasn’t their stepfather yet, and I don’t know why they did it that way. I think it’d be much more interesting if Michael came home and Susan was already married to this complete stranger. I really like that the remake had a divorced situation instead of a widowed situation, because it really added to the tension of everything. It also added to Susan’s push to make the relationship work because she didn’t want to repeat history with David. Also, when it comes to the body count, obviously it goes to the remake because I do love a good body count! Plus, the kills in the remake were very creative and diverse.

When it comes to the pacing and tone of the films, it has to be a tie. The original had a better pace where things didn’t get too crazy too fast. The remake did a fantastic job at increasing the tension between David and Michael, especially when it came to Michael’s sneaking around to finding out about the truth.

Finally, we’ve reached the endings! I think the original did a MUCH better job at the “Who am I, here?” reveal, it was a more chilling moment because no one expected it. It kind of was taken away in the remake. When David was in the middle of his rant and grabbing weapons, the curtain was already down at that point, so the chill of that line was gone. The original’s chase and final showdown ran a little long for me, I much preferred the fight in the remake, as I’ve said before. However, I hate how bleak the remake’s ending was. Michael was in a coma for about a month and David somehow disappeared before the cops got there, ready to destroy another family. I love that in the original, Stephanie and Susan sawed down Jerry’s birdhouse, ready to mend their relationship and move on from the trauma he caused. I thought it made for a much better ending!

After tallying everything up, I’m sure it’s no surprise that the original wins this round! Both films had great and terrifying elements, but the original was just better at creating an antagonist who was a real master at his craft. I hope you’ve enjoyed this latest round of Original vs. Remake!