This was actually a tight and engrossing low-budget thriller loosely based on the real-life John List case in NJ. For those not from NJ, John List was the local boogeyman. In 1971, he methodically killed his mother, his wife, his 2 sons, and his daughter, at their home in Westfield before disappearing for 18 years (this was no murder spree committed suddenly in the heat of rage; he waited for each of his children, one by one, to come home from school before shooting them, disposing of their bodies, and waiting for the next child to arrive). Every year on the anniversary of the murders, the local newspaper would have a headline emblazoned, "Where is he now?" When this film came out, List was still 2 years away from being captured thanks to TV's "America's Most Wanted." Terry O'Quinn plays the List-based character, and he's excellent, moving from Robert-Young style fatherhood to murderous, psychotic rage with facile and unnerving ease. In the film, he kills his family, changes his appearance, assumes a new identity, and moves to another part of the state (Washington in the film, not NJ), where he marries an innocent woman with a teenaged daughter, very competently portrayed by the pretty Jill Schoelen. She dislikes him for reasons she's not sure of, and spends much of the film trying to dig into his mysterious origins. At the same time, the brother of his former wife is on a crusade, determined to find him and bring him to justice. As daughter and brother each come closer to reaching their goal, the tension builds and accelerates towards the dramatic conclusion. It is a conclusion straight out of the "Slasher Horror Film" playbook, unfortunately, but, given that the main protagonist is a homicidal maniac, it did make a certain dramatic sense and didn't strike me as incongruous or unbelievable. Too, in a very real way, it was viscerally satisfying, whether it mirrored what might have happened in real life or not. Let's face it...this was a dramatic thriller, not a documentary. As I remember it, there weren't a lot of great films coming out during the 1980's, and I doubt that this one made a ton of money, but I always thought it was a grimly satisfying little gem, especially when you consider that it was made on what was assuredly a very minimal budget. Unfortunately, it led to at least one sequel-- "The Stepfather: Part 2." I had enough respect for first "Stepfather" that I didn't bother going to see the sequel. I don't think too many other people did either, as I don't believe there's ever been a "The Stepfather: Part 3."