SUSPENSE IN 'THE STEPFATHER'.

Released in December 2009

 » The Stepfather is an example of a mystery thriller film which creates suspense. It is about a teenage boy who soon finds out that the mystery of his so called stepfather is actually a serial killer.

The trailer;

 » In class we watched the remake version of the origianl which was released in 1987.  The film has many moments of suspense, but these are the three that stood out the most:
 

DYLAN WALSH (David Harris)

» The first moment of suspense was at the very beginning of the film, where we see the serial killer - David Harris played by Dylan Walsh transforming himself bid Harrisack into an ordinary man, at this point we, as the viewers do not know what is going on, but soon we find out that he is a serial killer with a fast pan zooming into his eyes as he has a flash back of the innocent little girl he killed and called his stepdaughter. The slow pan showing all the bodies of the innocent people he killed makes the audience realise that he is a bad person, a serial killer. This created suspense as there is slow edits and slow pace throughout this part of the film, it makes the aundience anxious, making them want to find out if he is going to kill other people.  

» The second moment of suspense is the part where David kills the old women from next door, Mrs Cutter played by Nancy Linehan Charles. The use of a false plateau in this part of the film creates tension and suspense making the viewers believe that he is there and is going to jump out onto her, when actually it was the cat. This makes the audience jump and brings then tension and suspense back down because it wasnt who they thought it was going to be and then suddenly when he does jump out, the viewers jump once again bringing back the tension and suspense not knowing that was going to happen. The scene then moves onto the actual killing were he pushes her down the stairs then slowly he walks down and strangles her to death, as if he wanted to finish her off. 

PENN BADGLEY (Michael Harding)

» The third moment of suspense is the ending of the film, 'the chase', where all is revealed. The main character Michael Harding played by Penn Badgley finally discovers the hidden mystery of his stepfather, he is a serial killer, after searching high and low in the basement. The use of fast pace helps to create suspense and build up tension keeping the audience entertained and on the edge of their seat, they are anxious to find out what is going to happen, making them yell and shouting at the charecters in the film, even though it is fiction and they cannot hear them. Also when he drops the phone and it breaks, the audience are eager for him to fix it so he does not get caught by David, as he is struggling fix the phone, the music starts to buld up and get louder as if David is on his way to get him, this creates suspense, making the audience full of excitment and wanting to find out if he is going to get caught by David.