STEPFATHER III

Priscilla Barnes and Robert Wightman

STEPFATHER III (1992 made for cable movie). Director: Guy Magar.

The psychotic stepdaddy from Stepfather and Stepfather II escapes yet again from an asylum (this is not shown) and has a discredited plastic surgeon give him a new face (after which he dispatches him, of course). Now known as Keith Grant (Robert Wightman), the psycho again manages to get a very nice house in a wonderful neighborhood. (One also has to wonder where he got the money to pay the surgeon.) As usual, he sets his sights on a divorcee, Christine (Priscilla Barnes), with a young son (David Tom) in a wheelchair. The boy suspects that there's something "off" about Keith and teams up with a reluctant priest (John Ingle), to find out all he can about him.

David Tom and Robert Wightman

When the son goes off to stay with his father and attend a special computer school, Keith sees his dreams of a perfect family falling apart, and zeroes in on a widow, Jennifer (Season Hubley), who also has a young son. It's fun in a sick sense watching Keith juggle both women who could run into each other at any moment and finally do, leading to an exciting climax wherein both ladies are imperiled and the allegedly crippled boy comes to the rescue. It could be argued that Stepfather III is just another dip in the well, but there are enough variations and enough suspenseful situations to make this work. Wightman is fine as a kind of demented overgrown boy scout and the others in the cast play with veracity, especially young Tom. 

Verdict: Could give stepfathers a bad name! ***. 

INTRUDERS

 

INTRUDERS (1992 two-part mini-series). Produced and directed by Dan Curtis. 

"Half the time you think you're going crazy. Half the time everyone thinks you are." 

Psychologist Dr. Neil Chase (Richard Crenna) encounters people who have had weird and frightening experiences that they can't explain or clearly remember, but it seems to point to alien abductions. The story focuses on Mary Wilkes (Mare Winningham), who is afraid the aliens might also have an interest in her young son, Timmy (Joseph and Christian Cousins); and Lesley Hahn (Daphne Ashbrook), who is at first thrilled at her pregnancy but then horrified after the aliens apparently take her baby. Chase learns that the government knows about the aliens but is denying everything until they know exactly what and who they're dealing with while the abductees suffer horribly. Chase risks his professional reputation by going public with what he knows. 

Marie Winningham

Many of the stories of alien abductions have been successfully debunked by now, with scientific explanations for much of what happens to the "victims," but this telefilm proceeds with the premise that the aliens and their experiments on humans are real. One man in a survivor's group hates the aliens and is sick of being treated like a guinea pig, while Mary, incredibly, comes to see the aliens -- who kidnap and experiment on people without their consent and steal their babies -- as having benign intent! Intruders examines all the usual conspiracy theories and folklore about alien abductions, and does a fairly good job of dramatizing them. The acting is more than adequate. Other cast members include everyone from Jason Beghe to Ben Vereen. The aliens themselves are strictly by way of Close Encounters. A sappy "happy" ending doesn't help. 

Verdict: All you need to know about alleged alien abductions. **1/2.