RG
Roberto Giacomelli
•David Harris is one of the many names of a serial killer who gains the trust of young single mothers and sneaks into their family by getting married, only to exterminate all its members. David has just met Susan Harding, a woman recently divorced from a violent husband and with two children plus a son who is more than just a teenager with behavioral issues. Susan starts a relationship with David and they decide to get married. After the marriage, Michael, Susan's older son, returns from the correctional school and immediately looks at David with suspicion. When Mrs. Cutter, Susan's neighbor, begins to insinuate that David looks very much like the family killer, Michael starts to convince himself that his stepfather is indeed the highly sought-after serial killer.
A serial killer obsessed with family. This was the simple but effective starting point from which screenwriter Donald Westlake drew the script for "The Stepfather – Il Patrigno", a 1980s thriller (1987, to be exact) that over time has gained a cult name and generated two sequels. Today, those at Screen Gems have decided to make a remake and have entrusted the project to the award-winning team Nelson McCormick (direction) and J.S. Cardone (screenplay), already responsible for "Prom Night – Che la fine abbia inizio", a questionable remake of "Non entrate in quella casa".
Given the previous works of the names involved (in addition to the remake of "Prom Night" there is a lot of TV for McCormick and "The Covenant" and "Desert Vampires" for Cardone), not much was expected and indeed the expectations are not betrayed, since "Il segreto di David" is really little, one of those little films for prime-time television that are forgotten with the same ease as an Alzheimer's patient.
Let's say that the new "Patrigno" is rather faithful to the previous one even if it betrays it in some elements such as the gender of the stepson (there it was a girl, here it's a boy) and the elimination of the subplot of the man who hunts the killer for revenge. Probably, by doing so, McCormick's film gains in narrative compactness, but at the same time loses in rhythm and tension. The biggest flaw of "Il segreto di David", in fact, is precisely an uneven rhythm, too close to that of a TV movie (but "Il segreto di David" is not a TV movie!). We will therefore have a lightning introduction that foreshadows sparks – with the presentation of the killer who is certainly the most inspired part of the film – but which is soon dampened by a redundant preparatory phase in which the focus is exclusively on the accumulation of suspicions by the older son towards the stepfather. A single large narrative block that occupies most of the duration of the feature film, too sparse in action and completely devoid of any kind of tension, which is exhausted in a standard ending where everything gains a boost and for a dozen minutes the attempt is made to concentrate all the thriller charge until then always postponed.
On his part, Dylan Walsh (Dr. McNamara of the TV series "Nip/Tuck") offers a good performance in the role of the psychopath, a good face perfectly suited to a sadistic killer temperament; unfortunately, however, his character loses the complexity and mania that belonged to the original "Patrigno", a killer obsessed with the "perfect family" and therefore forced to eliminate any family nucleus that betrayed his expectations, which here is normalized and described as a killer who acts almost out of habit or defense. Certainly, the intelligent reflection on the dissipation of the family institution and the consequent shattering of the American dream (which we know is also based on the family) is still present here and always of pressing relevance, although there it was coadiuvated by Reagan-era patriotism and here by Obama-era goodism. In the end, the most interesting thing about cinematic remaking operations lies precisely in the diversity with which one manages to elaborate a theme in tune with the socio-political situation of the period... and most of the time one realizes that despite the passage of time, the overall vision of the way of thinking and acting has not changed much.
"Il segreto di David" does not engage much in wanting to reflect on the dynamics of family disintegration in the 21st century, it could have done so but did not pose the problem, limiting itself to copying from that more diligent classmate who was the 1987 film. It is therefore a clean and orderly homework assignment completed with anonymity, a technically well-crafted product but lacking any reason to be remembered.
The cast, in addition to the aforementioned Walsh, includes the mediocre Penn Badgley ("Il mio ragazzo è un bastardo"; "Gossip Girl") in the role of Michael, the protagonist son; the beautiful Amber Heard ("All the Boys Love Mandy Lane"; "Never Back Down") in the roles of Michael's girlfriend; Sela Ward ("Il fuggitivo"; "L'alba del giorno dopo") in the clothes of Susan, the killer's new wife.
If you want some advice, watch, or rewatch, the original "Il Patrigno" with Terry O'Quinn, the John Locke of "Lost", which certainly provides a more engaging and interesting pastime than the enemy remake.
