Netflix movie The Stepfather has horrific opening scene showing serial killer's morning routine

A Netflix thriller is leaving viewers on the edge of their seats.

The Stepfather landed on the streaming site a while back, but it's really caught fire recently, with it now cracking the top 10. And the opening scene is dark, to say the least:

The grizzly slasher originally came out in 2009 and stars Amber Heard (Kelly) and Penn Badgley (Michael), who becomes suspicious of his mum's new partner, David, played by Dylan Walsh.

It was loosely based on serial killer John List, who murdered his mother, wife, and kids before disappearing for two decades.

According to reports, he planned the murders so precisely that no one knew anything had happened until a month later.

However, despite the intriguing premise of the film itself, the remake of the 1987 original did not go down well with most critics or fans. At all.

As we stand, it has a pretty shocking score of 13 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, and, I mean, no matter what you think of their ratings, that is awful.

Sony

Offering their take on the horror, one critic said: "Any subtlety or implicit social satire to be found in Joseph Ruben's original went out with the last neighborhood trash pickup.

"Too bad the service was canceled before it could haul away this waste-of-time remake."

Another summarised it thusly: "Not so much a contemporary re-make of Joseph Ruben's 1987 psychological thriller as a lobotomised b*****d step-child: over-plotted, over-long, and stripped of the original's sharp, satirical subversion of suburban family values."

"The Stepfather is full of unintentional laughs, shameless plot contrivances and cheap scare tactics, but this adds to the fun once you've tapped into the risible nature of the production," put a third.

Sony

While yet another remarked: "McCormick's lacklustre reboot is just another indistinguishable psycho thriller."

You get the idea.

And with it making just $31 million at the box office, people clearly weren't racing back to see it again.

That said, those who've sat down and watched it since it dropped on Netflix have been slightly more forgiving in their reviews.

Taking to Twitter, one viewer said: "The stepfather on Netflix is so crazy."

"The Stepfather on Netflix HIGHLY RECOMMEND," commented another very enthusiastic fan.

With someone else concluding: "If you haven’t watched 'The Stepfather' before.. it’s on Netflix! That’s my favourite horror/thriller film."

The Stepfather is currently available to stream on Netflix.

Topics: TV and Film, Netflix, US News, True Crime

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers is LADbible's Editorial Lead. After graduating from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History, he went on to write for the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express. So as you can imagine, he’s spent many a night wondering just how useful that second language has been. But c'est la vie.

@SmithersDom