The Stepfather

Dir. Joseph Ruben. 1987, 89 mins. 35mm. With Terry O’Quinn, Jill Schoelen, Shelley Hack. The idea for this film originated with Westlake’s friend and sometimes collaborator Brian Garfield, who handed Westlake a clipping of a news story (that he had been handed by book editor Carolyn Lefcourt) about a guy who murdered his family and disappeared. Westlake ran with it, and it is credited to all three. The story of a family man with a dark secret resonated with Westlake, whose own father lost his job during the Depression but kept leaving the house for work every day for weeks before he confessed. Terry O’Quinn generates a suitable air of quiet menace; the result is a tense domestic thriller.

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