The Stepfather poster. The only improvement on the original film!

So I had a little problem right off the bat going into The Stepfather. Passionate, slow-motion make-out scenes with high school kids totally creep me out, which alone might be enough to make it impossible for me to enjoy a movie like this. On the other hand, the two high school leads are played by actors in their mid-20s, so at least there’s that. The Stepfather is the latest 80s horror/thriller remake from J.S. Cardone, the same guy who brought us the dumbass remake of Prom Night last year and is now anxious to continue his efforts to convince the world that he doesn’t have a single original idea rattling around in his head.

The original Stepfather attained a cult status and featured a brilliant lead performance by Terry O’Quinn (better known now as John Locke from “Lost“)that was effective enough to warrant two sequels. Now, director Nelson McCormick has turned an almost classic thriller into standard, direct-to-video fare. Luckily it has a good cast (ok, one guy), so I guess that’s why it was released in theaters.

So here’s the plot. Dylan Walsh (who you know better as Dr. Sean MacNamara from “Nip/Tuck”) plays David Harris, a.k.a. Grady something-or-other, a man who murdered his family and then turned it into something of a habit. He’s the bad guy and eventually he gets found out. I can tell you that without ruining anything because you’ve seen the preview, so you already know he’s the bad guy. The appeal of Terry O’Qiunn’s performance in the original film was the way he appeared so friendly and normal until his family began to “disappoint” him and the rage came out. Walsh’s performance is passable, but too obvious.

The Stepfather. Not to be confused with The Lodger, another crappy thriller from earlier this year.

You will literally spend the entire movie waiting for his latest family of victims to figure out what’s going on. Sadly, if you’ve seen the trailer for The Stepfather, you’ve seen the movie. You could really save yourself some time here.

But despite the movie being almost amusingly predictable, I did like how well Dylan Walsh fit the character of the murderous step-dad. He portrays a man who fits the textbook serial killer profile perfectly; He’s good-looking, he’s charming, women love him, and he’s totally freaking nuts. Unfortunately, he’s surrounded by a cast that is just about as boring as any you could possibly assemble. His newest wife is Susan, in a thoroughly uninspired performance from Sela Ward. I somehow managed to immediately recognize her as Richard Kimble’s murdered wife from The Fugitive, but in this movie her performance is so uninspired that she’s nearly indistinguishable from her inexplicably lesbian boss.

Penn Badgley, a good-looking and clearly talented actor, is horrifically miscast as Susan’s son Michael, who is meant to be such a delinquent that he’s had to be sent to military school. Yeah, right. Badgley is a good actor and he effortlessly commands the screen, but he can’t even come close to portraying a character like that. He’s just not, you know, screwed up enough. And then, of course, there is my favorite. 23-year-old Amber Heard as Kelly, Michael’s girlfriend. Oh Lordy, Amber Heard. She’s a veteran of both Zombieland and Pineapple Express, two of the funniest movies of the last two years, but she serves not a single purpose in this film other than to run around in a bikini or her underwear, simultaneously looking incredibly sexy and intensely, almost painfully boring.

You want to be interested in seeing this cute blonde gallivanting around almost totally naked, except she’s so skinny that she’s about as sexy as a 12-year-old boy, and yet director McCormick parades her bony frame across the screen like we’re supposed to drop our jaws and drool over her angular, skeletal features.

But YOU remember my name, right Michael? Right? Honey...?

But even worse, McCormick presents her as a faceless, instantly forgettable cookie-cutter hottie, just like he did with the entire cast of Prom Night last year, where you couldn’t even remember the names of their characters after the movie ended. Don’t believe me? Well, let me remind you – her name’s Kelly. See? You forgot after a single paragraph.

The most lasting impression that the movie left me with was the feeling of how badly Hollywood’s in need of a new look. Not Hollywood itself, but the people in the movies. Maybe the single most important reason that movies look so fake is because no studios are casting real people. I don’t mean people who look like some random guy off the street (like the bad guy in Prom Night), I mean people who aren’t so obviously the result of extensive casting sessions looking for the most Beautiful People. This, coupled with horrific screenwriting, is why the movies never get high school kids right, for example. They never act right, and they never look right, they always look like nothing but a bunch of no-name actors, and The Stepfather is such a perfect example of this that it succeeds in the prodigious feat of taking actors that you do know and turning them into faceless characters. Sad.

Also like Prom Night, The Stepfather is an uninspired plodding through ancient horror clichés (yes, they even managed to squeeze in the prehistoric and invariably ineffective Screeching Cat Scare), this time even aspiring to come across as a garbled conglomeration of scenes removed straight from other movies and dropped into this one.

Michael is about to learn why you should never trust a man who has a freezer this big in his basement.

Had you the time and/or inclination, which I don’t, you could probably identify every single scene in the movie in previous, equally boring sex thrillers at your local video store. For now, I’ll just point out that the movie’s climactic scene is literally almost a shot-for-shot plagiarism of the closing scene of the original Halloween.

I might as well admit that, in general, I support modern remakes of older movies. Even though the remakes are almost never as good as the original films, I enjoy reimaginings of classic stories, and I think sometimes it’s good to bring that kind of attention back to movies that deserve more recognition. But there are times, like with The Stepfather, when the remakes are just too obviously thrown together to make money, with no interest in doing justice to the original film, much less improving on them.

The Bean Meter

Penn Badgley and Leighton Meester are two of the hottest names in young Hollywood. Best known for their roles on Gossip Girl, they recently took some time out to discuss goblins, ghosts and ghouls from their days back in high school. Apparently Penn and Leighton have some frightening Halloween memories from their teenage years.

Penn's photo on the left is from his teenage days.

Penn recently sat down with MTV news and recalled a costume that didn’t necessarily vibe so well with the ladies. “I was 14 years old and … went to [Burbank, California, costume shop] Cinema Secrets and I got a big old prosthetic scar and blood dripping from my face done so that it looked really nice,” he told MTV. “It was the worst idea ever because it turned off literally every girl at the party… and I was 14, thinking I was so hot. It was terrible. It was the worst idea I ever had.”

Leighton loves costumes.

As for Leighton, who grew up in Florida, her Halloween horror included a home made hula costume that she wore on a night when it was extremely cold. To help keep her warm, she wore a sweatshirt and sweat pants along with the hula outfit. 

With all the success of Gossip Girl, we’re sure that Penn and Leighton will have some sizzling hot costumes this year. In the meantime, we’ll try and find the pictures of the costumes they described here. It just goes to show that even Hollywood stars have awkward teenage moments.

Penn Badgley, from Gossip Girl, took time off from shooting his TV show to talk with TeenHollywood about his latest movie, The Stepfather.  In The Stepfather, Penn plays the part of Michael, a rebel who has been away at military school for a year.  Upon returning home, he is met by his mom and her fiance David. David appears to be a little weird and uptight and as time goes on becomes violent.

TeenHollywood: So, when we visited you on theEasy A set earlier this year, you told us that this film was pretty brutal to shoot. Can you expand on that?

Penn: Yeah.  We spent three nights on a rooftop in thirty degree weather and I was just in a t-shirt and freezing rain was falling on me. The rain they made they have to keep very cold because if it were warmer than the air, you get steam. So it was a freezing water, and movie rain is like a sheet of water; the second you’re in it you’re absolutely drenched because in order for water to work on film, it has to be heavy. It’s a miracle I didn’t get some sort of illness. That was an intense shoot for me because we were shooting ‘Gossip Girl’ at the same time and I was flying back and forth. I did a lot of my own stunts. It was a very physical role. I was running around the basement set, running around outside in fake rain. I spent a lot of time alone doing that stuff and it’s very intense, so I was exhausted every day.

TeenHollywood: Had you seen the original movie? Is this very different?

Penn: I did not watch the original. I know in the original my character was a girl and there are enough differences that I didn’t want to have any preconceived ideas about it or have anything that would mess with what I wanted to do with the character. But this is a thriller.  It’s not straight-up horror.  It’s not a slasher the way that I think maybe the original was in 1987.  It’s a simpler, story-driven thriller.  It isn’t full of twists and turns.  I think for that reason, people might be pleasantly surprised.

TeenHollywood: Michael has a girlfriend in the movie and now this weird new stepdad and his siblings. How do those relationships work?

Penn: Michael is a very troubled kid. He was on a downward spiral since his parents divorced and he’s been in military school for maybe a year, so when he comes back, the dynamic between his mother and his new stepfather and even his brother and sister is very awkward. He feels like an alien in his own family. So the scenes between Michael and Kelly, his girlfriend, I think that’s where you’re seeing Michael at his best. He smiles in most of those scenes. He’s the most comfortable with her. He feels like she is his confidant, they can really trust each other. Once he’s suspicious of David and the only one he can really talk to is Kelly, he doesn’t want to alienate her as well, because it sounds crazy. The whole time I’m balancing the absurdity of it. It was thinking ‘what would I say and who would I tell?’ And it has to be believable that he wouldn’t tell his mother, or his brother and sister, so the dynamic between the two of them has to be very close. I think they’ve been friends all their lives and then they started dating in high school.

TeenHollywood: What are some of your favorite horror movies or genre pictures?

Penn: My favorite horror film is a bit obscure. It’s The Brood. I watched that a year and half ago, I was told to rent it by the guy in the video store, and I was blown away by it. It was a really incredible movie. I’m not a big horror film fan. This movie is a different type of thrill, and a different type of horror, it’s intense dread, you know who the killer is from the beginning, so rather than is he or isn’t he, and rather than the gore fest that a lot of films are now, it’s simple and I think it’s going to find its strength and something new that audiences haven’t seen in a bit.

TeenHollywood: If you aren’t a big horror fan, did you enjoy making a horror film then?

Penn:  Everybody likes a scare, and around this time of year I’m always game.  I saw the first twoSaw’s and then after that I thought it got kind of silly.  Yes, I think it’s really fun, and that’s the whole point of these movies.  Yes, you want to terrify the audience for a bit, but the whole reason that anybody does that is because it’s fun, especially during the time around Halloween.  In that sense, I’m a fan, but I think I’m more a fan of making them.  It’s just physically a very fun thing to do.  To make all this stuff real you have to dive in head first and really commit.  It was a very fun experience for me.

TeenHollywood: How is The Stepfatherdifferent from anything you’ve done in the past on TV or film?

Penn: It’s a lead role in a film but I really didn’t have much to say even though I was a lead.  The character is fairly quiet and he’s borderline petulant. He’s sort of pissed off coming back from military reform school.  He’s partially reformed, but he’s definitely bitter a little bit from the whole experience and not sure how to approach his family.  So he’s quiet and he’s almost insolent.  Those things I tried to temper to make him relatable and to make him redeemable.  Also, the physicality of the role. Aside from getting in shape a little bit, I also was required to do some stunts which was really fun. I was doing pushups, pull-ups, screaming and letting the blood rush to my head, and drooling a little bit even.  I mean, I probably looked like an idiot in between takes, but I was just trying to exhaust myself to make those moments real.  I did a couple of my own stunts and I have the bruises and scrapes to prove it.

TeenHollywood: In “Gossip Girl” you play Dan who is alienated in his socioeconomic setting and in The Stepfather, Michael is kind of alienated in his own home. Can you compare the two characters?

Penn: I think Michael, who is the kid in The Stepfather, comes from a very different place I think mentally, emotionally than Dan. I think most of his life Michael’s had the acceptance, he’s gotten the girl and things have sort of come easily to him, probably too easily, which is why he became disenchanted or whatever it was that drove him to act out and rebel and then they sent him off to military school.  Then at the present you find him coming back and he is alienated in his own family.  I think, actually, the main difference between he and Dan is, I think, the one place that Dan Humphrey has acceptance is in his family.  He has a very strong, comfortable family life.  I think, for that reason, he really knows who he is whereas this kid Michael, ironically, used to be the popular kid before he started getting into drugs and he’s less confident in his own skin, I think.  So the fact that he’s alienated even further by his own family in his own home, I think it throws him for a real loop.  That’s why immediately he’s kind of suspicious. Dan doesn’t really want to be involved in the crazy goings on of the Upper East Side, although he is thrust into it every week.

TeenHollywood: Which guy do you relate to more?

Penn: I actually have a very strong relationship with my parents, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been strife in the past.  So I think the universal nature of Michael Harding, the kid in The Stepfather, I would relate to more.

TeenHollywood: How will teens relate to this movie?

Penn: Well, anybody who might have had any stressful relationship with their parents, which I think is to say everybody at one point in time, (will relate). And just the fact that he’s a teenager in general, he’s just sort of unsure who he is and how he fits into the world.  The thing that makes that even more difficult is his own family and then having to really work to have them accept him again.

TeenHollywood: There is a big issue about bringing strangers into your home and kids having trouble adjusting.

Penn: You know, in my own life, my parents are separated and have been for a long time.  They both have had partners here and there.  For me, I’m a very relaxed person, a very casual person.  Sure, you bristle here and there if they’re not your cup of tea. People do react to it. I think a lot of people probably don’t respond to it so well, and for that reason.  It’s really going to resonate with a lot of kids, and a lot of adults, too.

TeenHollywood: Is it easy for you to transition from television to film?

Penn: For me it was very natural.  Film is where I’ve wanted to be for years and film is where the people working for me, behind me have always imagined I would end up, so it was a very natural progression.  It was definitely exciting and definitely new territory, but I definitely took it in stride.  It was just really fun for me, you know? But, it’s not that different. You read lines, you assess what’s going on and you go through it as naturally as that character might. it was seamless and it was fun.

Rumors are being spread that Gossip Girl is taking scandalous to a whole new level. It is being reported that CW’s steamy drama will be featuring a threesome on November 9th’s episode.

The question is, who will it involve? We don’t have the answer to that nor do we know the female to male ratio of those involved.

Here are a few suggestions:

Chuck-Blair-Nate

Georgina-Dan-Olivia

Serena-Dan-Blair

Serena-Georgina-Carter

Serena-Dan-Olivia

There are many many more possibilities. What three character would you like to see shack up?

I’m thinking it must be Chuck-Blair-and ?

The Stepfather , a remake of the of the 1987 version, stars Dylan Walsh, Sela Ward, Penn Badgley, and Amber Heard.

The Plot:

“Dylan Walsh stars as David Harris, very much a ‘family values’ man who mysteriously comes into the lives of single mothers with children and becomes the dream man they always wanted. When he woos Susan Harding (Sela Ward) and eventually moves in with her family, her teenage son Michael (Penn Badgley) begins to suspect that David is not quite the dream man he pretends to be. Along with his girlfriend Kelly (Amber Heard) and Susan’s friends (Paige Turco and Sherry Stringfield) they slowly start to piece together the mystery of the man who is set to become their stepfather, but they may be too late in getting to the truth.”

I am a huge, huge fan of Nip/Tuck. I don’t know if I can look at Dylan Walsh the same. He is super creepy and seems a little demonic.

Even in this economy celebrities can’t afford to fly private.  So when they are spotted at the airport we sometimes catch them at their worst.  But some celebs, like Posh, still get all done up to travel.  Check out what your fave celeb is wearing to the airport and how badly they don’t want to be seen!

1.  Supermodel Gisele Bundchen looking casual and comfy or frumpy?  Gisele returned to the US from her South American honeymoon.

2.  Ringo Starr of The Beatles and his wife Barbara Bach goes through security at Los Angeles airport, California.  Ringo is trying to go unnoticed with the hat and shades for sure!

3. Zac Efron arrives at JFK airport, NYC.  Zac is looking very trendy with the skinny jeans!

4. “Private Practice” star Kate Walsh smiles for the camera as she departs from the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) Friday afternoon. She was dropped off by a friend who was driving her Cadillac Escalade Hybird. The popular actress, who is known as a “big tipper,” gave her airport security escort $20 as she was being led into the check-in line inside the LAX terminal building.

5.  Rihanna spotted at the Barbados International Airport.  Big sunglasses to hide the bruises, but she still looks very cute!  Rihanna looks like she is feelings better, almost looks too good?!?! 

6.  ‘Rescue me‘ star Denis Leary keeps a low profile in LA. Leary who is the lead in the new US series kept his hat down as he tried to sneak past photographer at LAX.  He looks like a normal person flying and no sunglasses!  Shades are a celebrity uniform! 

7.  Cameron Diaz stops to stick her finger in her ear before leaving Cleveland airport.  She looks quite flustered!

8. A smiling Sienna Miller leaves Los Angeles for New York.  Looking very casual and a bit too skinny!  Hope she gets good on the plane!

9. ‘Gossip Girl‘ stars, Blake Lively and boyfriend, Penn Badgley, board a flight at Los Angeles airport. Blake, who looked like she had just woken up, arrived in a taxi and on seeing waiting media tried to hide behind her pillow. Penn at one stage was seen hiding behind his passport. Interestingly, they checked in at the Premium Economy section – obviously no first-class tickets for the famous couple.

10.  Victoria Beckham, aka Posh Spice, arrives at JFK airport wearing what looks like a fur coat.  Whether its at the airport or a playdate for her children, Posh is always dressed up.  Wonder if Posh ever just wants to throw up some sweats and be comfy?

The cast of Gossip Girls can’t stop hooking up on and off screen.  Recently reports have surfaced that Chace Crawford, 23, hooked up with his underage co-star, Taylor Momsen, 15, at the Gossip Girl holiday party.

Spies at the Dallas airport caught Ed Westwick (Chuck) and Jessica Szohr (Vanessa) the stars of Gossip Girl taking the same flight home together for Thanksgiving and passing the time with a little PDA at the airport.

It is also reported that Blake Lively and Penn Badgley are still going strong!

This cast can’t keep their hands off each other.  Which Gossip Girls star would you want to hook up with??

The male hotties of the hit WB show ‘Gossip Girl,’ Penn Badgley, Chace Crawford, and Ed Westwick cover the November issue of Details magazine. Here is part of their interview:

Chace on his touch-ups: “I literally go into the bathroom and wipe off one layer [of makeup. My occasional zit is] a big deal—oh, they turn on the alarms for that. And they get mad if I get sunburned or if I get a haircut.”

Chace on being contracted for six years, like his costars: “It never really gets frustrating. Sure, sometimes you just want to have a scene where you’re drunk or having fun. I’m hoping for a fall from grace for Nate. Five years from now, I better have murdered someone!”

Penn on his on-and-off-screen relationship with costar Blake Lively (they were home-schooled together): “[It's] wonderful and also something to grapple with [in terms of mixing work and pleasure]. You have to draw the line somewhere. I’m fine talking about my family and personal history, because it humanizes you. But I have to save some s— for me.”

Ed on Penn’s chest hair: “Penn said he has to shave his chest hair because it’s threatening “Reeeaallly … Well, I think Penn’s chest hair may be more like a scaahf. It actually comes out of his neck! So maybe that’s why he has to cut it. Threatening? I don’t know what threatening hair would look like. We’d have to get Penn here to see!”

Ed on being miserable approaching the end of school in the U.K.:”I don’t understand how the government expects a 16-year-old to know what they want to do. It made me incredibly anxious and upset.”

For more of the interview go to Details.com

These boys are just like the characters in the “Gossip Girl” series — fun-loving party animals!  Or at least based on their pictures, they are.  Don’t worry guys, I understand–just doing a little “role research,” hm? ; )

These boys know how to work their angles!

Ed’s lady friend is cute, but I don’t know if Ed was ready for the picture to be taken…

E

Boys will be boys!

Somehow, I sincerely doubt the gay rumors about Chace Crawford.

Penn Badgley makes an appearance–and despite the interesting outfits, these boys are still gorgeous.

Steamy!  But wait…this looks so familiar…where have I seen this before??

Oh yeah–that’s right.

It may just be that these boys have lives that are juicier than those of the characters they play.  Ed is a rockstar, after all–if you want to hear the sweet music he makes, click here.

And click here to view the Photobucket account with all the pics!  You know you love ‘em!! ; )

Gossip Girl’s Ed Westwick, Penn Badgley and Chace Crawford all went for a photo shoot with Daniel Jambratt.