373:). He tells Dr. Emmerson the whole truth and nothing but, and she predictably ignores it all and assumes that he's just exaggerating things and that the two would get along if Todd gave her a chance. Denise is then sent to go see Dr. Emmerson, and predictably, she turns into her tropopkin form and eats her, destroying evidence that Todd knew what he was talking about.
399:
The wedding day arrives, and there is a shot of Denise, in monster form, in her wedding dress, using a deep voice—her real voice, which George doesn't find suspicious for more than a split second. Todd waxes the steps in the hopes Denise will fall and reveal her true form. Denise falls down the steps
419:
It turns out to be a trick, as the monster soon gets back up and goes after Todd, while her harpy arrives to destroy the cords that connect the amps, stopping the violin music and wrecking the cassette. Just then George, having recovered, comes out with a violin (George had paid the loan back), and
361:
Todd gets the photos developed and shows them to his neighbor/babysitter without looking at them. However, they all seem to be photos from when he was peeping on her, as the ones of Denise in her real form instead came out in nothing but fuzz. Later that day, Todd found out the thing Denise keeps in
427:
The next day, as part of the reconciliation, Todd and George go hiking in the area from the beginning of the film. They find Denise's cave, complete with cocoons where Denise stored food for the winter. Todd and his dad free the victims from the cocoons, and the 3rd and final cocoon turns out to be
387:
Todd then seemingly goes to peep on Wendy again, but sees Denise going after her. He goes to warn her, and instead sees her in her underwear. As Wendy freaks out, the monster bursts through her door. The monster instead freaks out when it's covered by a blanket, and then flees. This convinces Wendy
365:
Todd tries to tell George that the bat-like thing is called a harpy, and that harpies help tropopkins, but a disbelieving George grounds Todd and throws away his comics. George goes off to leave Todd alone with Denise. Due to this, Todd runs off to tell his grandfather all about tropopkins, but his
357:
The next night, Denise is following a young paperboy (Eric
Mettner) around, but this time Todd is there to watch her become her monstrous form. Todd watches her eat the little kid alive, tries to take photos for evidence that he wasn't just reading too many comic books about monsters, and runs off.
329:
Todd begins to get suspicious of Denise after her sees her gnawing on a bone, just like how he saw a tropopkin do the same thing in a comic book that details various things. Denise also has some tiny creature in a box that she talks to, and feeds it a live goldfish. George enters, notices a missing
395:
right back, but Todd's dad George catches Todd in the act and threatens to throw the comic book away. Upon finding out that Todd got a loan on the violin, George angrily and rashly ripped up the $ 500 comic book into shreds. Todd and Wendy search through the garbage that night for the comic pieces
341:
She flirts with some fat, bald, middle-aged jogger (Mark
Barbolak) who follows her, steps in a gooey dog mess leftover from a pet dog she seemingly ate, doesn't find this suspicious at all, and continues following her. The jogger seemingly finds a half eaten dog with her shoe, and he doesn't find
415:
to make the music loud to defeat the monster. Now believing Todd, Norman arrives to help blare the violin music to defeat the monster. They carry out their attack when George and Denise are alone in their bedroom that night, and George finally witnesses his wife transform. She doesn't kill him
345:
The next morning, the newspaper headline states "Jogger Found Dead", presumed to have been eaten by a dog. That night, George and Denise decide to go out and hire a babysitter for Todd, which happened to be Wendy, the neighbor that Todd was peeping on earlier. Wendy's boyfriend "Phlegm"
291:) has a weird sense of humor and suggests that the sign could mean only tropopkins are allowed to hunt. Almost instantly the roar of a tropopkin is heard. Todd doesn't see the tropopkin, but he does find a giant chicken-like footprint, which matches the tropopkin footprint in his comic.
263:
monster, called a tropopkin. The woman is declared missing, and her husband presumes that she has died. He is not particularly concerned, as he is engaged to marry another woman. The woman in question is the shapeshifting tropopkin, and plans to kill him during the next
366:
grandfather doesn't believe him. With no one believing Todd, the evil monster forces Todd to do chores, during which Todd gets the idea to make a big trap to catch Denise in her monster form. Predictably, she turns back into a human the second George comes back.
313:), the suspicious beautiful woman from earlier, and has been dating her for the entire six months following Abby's disappearance and the time Todd got left with his grandparents. Todd has been unaware of this, and even the grandparents call out George for it.
29:
424:. The grandfather's non-sequitor baseball reference from earlier turns out to be useful, as the kid ends up killing the harpy with it. The violin music kills Denise, and she disintegrates into nothingness. Todd and his dad reconcile.
298:), who acts like a seemingly generic grumpy 1950s dad - humorless, irritating, and super-serious. Sometime later, a monster appears one night in the woods and chases Abby until catching her, and wrapping her in a cocoon.
428:
Todd's mom Abby, who is alive! The film ends with the family happily walking away together while the camera pans down to reveal the comic book shown throughout the film, depicting the ending scene in panel-form.
407:
By coincidence, Todd manages to find the last piece of the comic book hidden under the couch that reveals the weakness: Violin music, which explains Denise's hatred of the violin. Todd gets out his
718:
391:
Todd then comes up with a plan: to get a loan on his violin to buy the $ 500 comic book—simply to gain the defeating information and then return the comic book and pay the
713:
354:
to eat George, and reveals that he knows this because he also reads comic books. It just happens that the summer solstice is on the same day as the wedding.
362:
her box is a giant bat-like monster. Todd goes after it with a baseball bat, breaks a bunch of things in the process, and ends up reprimanded by his dad.
384:), and they look for a comic book on tropopkins so Todd can find out how to defeat them. Sadly, the comic book is $ 500, being a collector's copy.
350:) comes in, and he and Wendy have a date, much to Todd's dismay. Phlegm turns out to be smart, as he explains about how Denise is waiting on the
678:
698:
668:
510:
rated it 1/6 stars and wrote, "This blithely unambitious film succeeds on its own, limited terms." In a retrospective, John
Campopiano of
309:) after the incident, with all, except Todd, believing the mother to be dead. George arrives and reveals that he will marry Denise Gore (
283:
The family sees a "No
Hunting" sign that seemingly says you can only hunt monsters called "tropopkins", and the kid of the family, Todd (
708:
683:
653:
693:
535:
316:
There is a short little heartwarming scene between Todd and his grandpa Norman, filled with random sports metaphors, in the style of
658:
703:
663:
416:
though, simply knocking him out with a wine bottle before running outside and being incapacitated by the violin music.
688:
673:
322:
396:
and find all but the one piece of the comic book that reveals the monster's one weakness—just what Todd needed.
504:, reports that 0% of five surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average review is 2.4/10.
268:. Her prospective stepson witnesses her killing various victims, and tries to expose her real identity.
150:
648:
622:
501:
53:
338:) strip down. This ties into the plot, because Todd catches Denise eyeing a jogger at night.
587:
514:
described it as "full of ridiculous humor, a fun monster, and enjoyable cast performances".
408:
566:
497:
421:
351:
265:
58:
317:
253:
642:
540:
511:
467:
455:
412:
347:
306:
294:
Just then a beautiful woman appears and seems to be flirting with Todd's dad George (
260:
237:
229:
213:
140:
130:
107:
97:
71:
485:
473:
370:
302:
284:
276:
The film starts off with art supplies and dramatic music. The art supplies draw an
249:
241:
217:
112:
28:
252:. It was a direct-to-video film. After its release, it was sometimes aired on The
561:
449:
443:
437:
381:
331:
310:
295:
288:
287:), just happens to have a comic detailing what a tropopkin is. Todd's mom Abby (
225:
221:
92:
301:
6 months later, Todd is sadly living with his grandparents
Shirley and Norman (
479:
461:
401:
392:
335:
245:
233:
117:
102:
376:
Todd's grandpa takes him out to a comic shop run by a flamboyant, cleanfreak
326:, on how everything is like baseball, or how everything ties into baseball.
277:
330:
fish automatically, and blames Todd for it. The scene cuts to Todd being a
633:
592:
506:
627:
616:
280:
knockoff that the camera zooms into, showing a family on vacation.
536:"Embracing Roger Corman's Stepmonster with Filmmaker Billy Corben"
377:
342:
this at all suspicious, and off-camera, Denise eats the jogger.
400:
as expected but turns out completely fine. The minister (
411:
recording of violin music, and Phlegm brings a bunch of
216:
film directed by Jeremy
Stanford, executive produced by
369:
Todd gets taken to see a psychiatrist, Dr. Emmerson (
197:
189:
179:
156:
146:
136:
126:
85:
77:
67:
46:
38:
21:
404:) then pronounces George and Denise man and wife.
259:In the film, a boy's mother is kidnapped by a
719:English-language science fiction horror films
8:
27:
18:
523:
7:
714:English-language comedy horror films
529:
527:
14:
334:and watching his neighbor Wendy (
534:Campopiano, John (2016-06-13).
1:
679:Films scored by Terry Plumeri
699:1990s English-language films
669:American comedy horror films
388:what Todd had been saying.
165:February 24, 1993
735:
709:1993 science fiction films
684:Films about missing people
654:1993 direct-to-video films
420:plays it at the monster—a
323:Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
694:Films about shapeshifting
26:
659:1993 comedy horror films
151:Concorde-New Horizons
704:1990s American films
664:1990s monster movies
562:"Stepmonster (1993)"
440:as George Dougherty
212:is a 1993 American
689:Films about comics
16:1993 American film
674:1993 comedy films
502:review aggregator
488:as Todd Dougherty
446:as Abby Dougherty
205:
204:
54:Mark Thomas McGee
33:Theatrical poster
726:
604:
603:
601:
600:
584:
578:
577:
575:
574:
558:
552:
551:
549:
548:
531:
172:
170:
31:
19:
734:
733:
729:
728:
727:
725:
724:
723:
639:
638:
613:
608:
607:
598:
596:
586:
585:
581:
572:
570:
567:Rotten Tomatoes
560:
559:
555:
546:
544:
533:
532:
525:
520:
498:Rotten Tomatoes
495:
476:as Dr. Emmerson
434:
422:Deus ex machina
352:summer solstice
274:
266:summer solstice
220:, and starring
182:
175:
168:
166:
159:
122:
63:
59:Craig J. Nevius
42:Jeremy Stanford
34:
17:
12:
11:
5:
732:
730:
722:
721:
716:
711:
706:
701:
696:
691:
686:
681:
676:
671:
666:
661:
656:
651:
641:
640:
637:
636:
625:
612:
611:External links
609:
606:
605:
579:
553:
522:
521:
519:
516:
494:
491:
490:
489:
483:
477:
471:
465:
459:
453:
452:as Denise Gore
447:
441:
433:
430:
318:Benjamin Sisko
273:
270:
254:Disney Channel
203:
202:
199:
195:
194:
191:
187:
186:
183:
180:
177:
176:
174:
173:
162:
160:
157:
154:
153:
148:
147:Distributed by
144:
143:
138:
134:
133:
128:
127:Cinematography
124:
123:
121:
120:
115:
110:
105:
100:
95:
89:
87:
83:
82:
81:Steven Rabiner
79:
75:
74:
69:
65:
64:
62:
61:
56:
50:
48:
44:
43:
40:
36:
35:
32:
24:
23:
15:
13:
10:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
731:
720:
717:
715:
712:
710:
707:
705:
702:
700:
697:
695:
692:
690:
687:
685:
682:
680:
677:
675:
672:
670:
667:
665:
662:
660:
657:
655:
652:
650:
647:
646:
644:
635:
631:
630:
626:
624:
620:
619:
615:
614:
610:
595:
594:
589:
588:"Stepmonster"
583:
580:
569:
568:
563:
557:
554:
543:
542:
541:Dread Central
537:
530:
528:
524:
517:
515:
513:
512:Dread Central
509:
508:
503:
499:
492:
487:
484:
481:
478:
475:
472:
469:
468:Corey Feldman
466:
463:
460:
457:
456:George Gaynes
454:
451:
448:
445:
442:
439:
436:
435:
431:
429:
425:
423:
417:
414:
413:Marshall amps
410:
405:
403:
397:
394:
389:
385:
383:
379:
374:
372:
367:
363:
359:
355:
353:
349:
348:Corey Feldman
343:
339:
337:
333:
327:
325:
324:
319:
314:
312:
308:
307:George Gaynes
304:
299:
297:
292:
290:
286:
281:
279:
271:
269:
267:
262:
261:shapeshifting
257:
255:
251:
247:
243:
239:
238:Corey Feldman
235:
231:
230:George Gaynes
227:
223:
219:
215:
214:comedy horror
211:
210:
200:
196:
193:United States
192:
188:
184:
178:
164:
163:
161:
155:
152:
149:
145:
142:
141:Terry Plumeri
139:
135:
132:
131:Wally Pfister
129:
125:
119:
116:
114:
111:
109:
108:Corey Feldman
106:
104:
101:
99:
98:George Gaynes
96:
94:
91:
90:
88:
84:
80:
76:
73:
72:Fred Olen Ray
70:
66:
60:
57:
55:
52:
51:
49:
47:Screenplay by
45:
41:
37:
30:
25:
20:
628:
617:
597:. Retrieved
591:
582:
571:. Retrieved
565:
556:
545:. Retrieved
539:
505:
496:
486:Billy Corben
474:Edie McClurg
426:
418:
406:
398:
390:
386:
375:
371:Edie McClurg
368:
364:
360:
356:
344:
340:
328:
321:
315:
303:Alice Hirson
300:
293:
285:Billy Corben
282:
275:
258:
250:Billy Corben
242:Edie McClurg
218:Roger Corman
208:
207:
206:
181:Running time
158:Release date
113:Edie McClurg
629:Stepmonster
618:Stepmonster
482:as Minister
450:Robin Riker
444:Molly Cheek
438:Alan Thicke
382:Sean Whalen
380:-like guy (
332:peeping tom
311:Robin Riker
296:Alan Thicke
289:Molly Cheek
226:Robin Riker
222:Alan Thicke
209:Stepmonster
93:Alan Thicke
78:Produced by
39:Directed by
22:Stepmonster
649:1993 films
643:Categories
599:2017-08-20
573:2017-08-20
547:2017-08-20
518:References
480:John Astin
462:Ami Dolenz
402:John Astin
393:pawnbroker
336:Ami Dolenz
246:John Astin
234:Ami Dolenz
185:85 minutes
169:1993-02-24
118:John Astin
103:Ami Dolenz
493:Reception
470:as Phlegm
458:as Norman
278:EC Comics
634:AllMovie
593:TV Guide
507:TV Guide
464:as Wendy
409:cassette
198:Language
137:Music by
86:Starring
68:Story by
248:, and
201:English
190:Country
167: (
378:Spock
320:from
623:IMDb
500:, a
432:Cast
305:and
272:Plot
632:at
621:at
645::
590:.
564:.
538:.
526:^
256:.
244:,
240:,
236:,
232:,
228:,
224:,
602:.
576:.
550:.
346:(
171:)
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
