When the TV show “Lost” first hit the air, Terry O’Quinn quickly established himself as the character you want to root for, but something is saying not to trust him. For fans of The Stepfather, this was O’Quinn’s 2nd knockout performance. Playing a bland suburban named Jerry Blake who marries into a family and treats anything that goes against his ‘white picket fence’ values as a betrayal, O’Quinn takes what could be a one-dimensional slasher character and brings him fully to life. Opening on a chilling note, the film lets Blake take the wheel and decide when to go psycho and when to just be quietly disappointed. (Honestly, it’s like the film itself is afraid of him.)
There was something in the air in the late 80s that’s just as potent today. The feeling that sex, drugs and a lack of religion was going to be the downfall of the next generation, and that if you were white and/or middle class and/or male you were going to lose power over your job, your life, your own house. You become marginalized, and must not be afraid to do whatever to hold onto the power being taken from you. Jerry Blake wasn’t born a dangerous psycho, changes as society evolves forward made him more dangerous by stripping away his identity until even he doesn’t know who he is anymore.
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