With autumn finally upon Baltimore, it's time to get excited for apple cider, pumpkin carving, crunchy leaves and - of course - scary movies. While most of these films focus on gore and horror, The Stepfather, in theaters Oct. 16, is more of a "simpler, story-driven thriller," according to Penn Badgley, who plays lead character Michael.
The Stepfather, a remake of the 1987 thriller film of the same name, focuses on college student Michael Harding. Upon his return from military school, Harding meets his mother's new boyfriend, David Harris, and along with the collective suspicions of family and neighbors, starts to doubt that Harris is who he claims to be. For the rest of the film, Harding desperately tries to piece together the truth.
One aspect that separates this movie from others is that the killer is given away within the first few scenes.
"So rather than it being the age-old game of Clue, where you're wondering who it is, [this movie is] really like a tense dread, where you're waiting for the other shoe to drop and wondering how it's going to happen," Badgley offered when questioned about the uniqueness of the movie's plot.
The Stepfather is Badgley's first lead role in a film. The acting required for this movie, a thriller, poses a different challenge than his regular television role as Dan Humphrey on Gossip Girl. Badgley cited the physicality of the role and his required stunts as the main reason for this discrepancy.
"I think it was a surprising task doing this movie. It was difficult," Badgley said.
"I really loved embracing the physicality of it. Before all these scenes where you're having to run around a house being chased by a murderer, to make that real, you kind of have to exhaust yourself... to make those moments real."
Like many movies targeted to high school and college-age students, the lead in this movie is a teenager; indeed, this power of empathy extends to "anybody who might have had any stressful relationship with their parents - which I think is to say everybody at one point in time," Badgley said.
"There is a universal vulnerability in being a teenager," Badgley continued. "I think you get that with [Michael] especially. I mean, he's very vulnerable as far as his family's concerned."
Such complexity of character will surely elevate the film from typical horror to quality cinema.
Although Badgley has never seen the original Stepfather, he is confident that this new movie has a stronger story than the '80s version which he views as a cult slasher film.
Another difference between the two movies is that Badgley's character in the original movie was female - a girl named Stephanie. Many new horror movies, including Disturbia, feature male protagonists.
"The original is probably much more predatory and you're just waiting for him to stab her. I think they changed that to make the relationship between the stepfather and my character to be one where you can only see one of two ways for it to end, and that's probably one of them dying. So it has to end in a battle," Badgley said.
On a broader scale, male protagonists in horror movies change the game completely.
"It's less predatory," Badgley said. "The character physically, maybe they can go head-to-head with the murderer more easily. They're more apt physically to do that. I think it just changes the whole dynamic between the killer and the victim. They're less victimized."
Such a change in the fundamental structure of a horror movie may make this film more appealing to a wider demographic. Movie-lovers are often bored by the routine "damsel-in-distress" formula by which so many horror films have abided.
Badgley continued, "For me, as a person who's never really been that interested in horror, I do like the idea of somebody, not necessarily male, who physically is up to the challenge of facing the killer and not being a victim."
Despite not being too fond of horror movies, "Everybody likes a scare, and around this time of year I'm always game," Badgley said.While The Stepfather is a far reach from typical Gossip Girl fare, one can still expect many fans of the show to frequent movie theaters in the upcoming weeks.
Indeed, a sizable portion of the film's audience will likely consist of loyal Badgley enthusiasts.
Nevertheless, Penn expects men and women to see his new film for one simple reason: it'll be a good time.
The rising star concluded on this lighthearted note. "Yes, I think it's really fun, and that's the whole point of these movies," Badgley said.
"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."
From the sound of it, Badgley and other members of this project don't seem to be taking themselves too seriously.
Some may view this as a bad thing, but when it comes to making horror films, not knowing when to laugh at oneself is a recipe for disaster.
The most successful horror films have found a good balance between the absurd, the hilarious and the scary. One can hope that The Stepfather is able to strike this fine balance. Judging by Penn's take on things, though, I would say we can have high hopes.
This Halloween season, have some fun by grabbing your friends and seeing The Stepfather, which is being released on Oct. 16.
