''The Stepmother'' is a 2022 American

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a genre combining the thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting. In terms of context and c ...

film written by Chris Stokes and

Marques Houston Marques Barrett Houston (born August 4, 1981) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and actor. A member of the R&B group Immature/IMx from 1990 until 2002, Houston went solo in 2003. As an actor, he is best known for his role as Roger Evans ...

and directed by Stokes. The film stars

Erica Mena Erica Jasmin Mena (born November 8, 1987) is an American television personality, model, and video vixen. She is best known for her appearances on '' Love & Hip Hop: New York'' and '' Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta'', appearing in the franchise since 2011 ...

as a woman with dissociative identity disorder, and Marques Houston as a recently widowed single father. It is a gender and race swapped reimagining of the 1987 horror film, '' The Stepfather''. The film was released by

Tubi Tubi is an American over-the-top content platform and ad-supported streaming service owned by Fox Corporation. The service was launched on April 1, 2014, and is based in Los Angeles, California. In January 2021, Tubi reached 33 million monthly ...

on June 17, 2022. A sequel titled ''The Stepmother 2'', premiered on December 23, 2022. ''The Stepmother 3'' was released by Tubi on June 8, 2023.

Cast

Reception

''The Stepmother'' received negative reviews from critics. Niela Orr of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' wrote article titled "Tubi Is Reviving a Lost Joy: Watching Really, Really Bad Movies" criticized production values writing: "The second of three “The Stepmother” films, a Tubi Original directed by Chris Stokes, features a flabbergasting continuity error in which the actor playing a security guard changes multiple times in one scene, despite one actor’s having a short Afro and the other’s wearing braids." ''Movie Ranker'' gave it a 2 out of 10 stars writing: "‘The Stepmother’ is completely absent of any visual flourishes or unique identity. The family house looks like one of those fully furnished demo homes, untouched and never lived-in. Beyond that, Stokes does nothing of visual or aesthetic interest, resulting in scenes that look flat, uninspired, and empty of any meaningful color palette. There is no style to speak of here. Every frame of the film is essentially shouting at the audience that it’s been made quickly, cheaply, and without passion."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stepmother 2020s English-language films African-American films 2022 psychological thriller films American psychological thriller films American film series Tubi original programming Films with screenplays by Chris Stokes