‘Sinister Stepsister’ Review (Lifetime)
Stars: Annika Foster, Tu Morrow, Jhey Castles, Matthew Pohlkamp, Johan Gran, Jacob Taylor, Dayne Jarrah | Written by Adam Rockoff | Directed by John Murlowski
I’m not going to lie, I’m really starting to enjoy the trashy nature of these horror/thriller themed Lifetime movies. I think it’s the unapologetic nature of their films, they remind me very much of my video renting heyday, when the sexploitation films of filmmakers like Jag Mundhra were popular and Single White Female inspired a gluttony of similar ‘vicious vixens’ revenge-style films. It also seems, at least to me, that Lifetime has taken the reigns from the likes of Syfy, who years ago produced cheap but fun movies that riffed on bigger budget movies and, ultimately, made their films almost a genre of their own. Lifetime is doing the same with their films – taking their traditional over the top dramas but scaling them back a little, throwing in the tropes, cliches and stereotypes of horror and thriller movies to create their own hybrid movies.
As I said in the opener, back in 1992 Single White Female caught the attention of filmgoers everywhere becoming, at the time, something of a zeitgeist. I remember there were ads for it on every rental tape, in newspapers, magazines, even on satellite television. It was so much of a phenomenon it spawned a myriad of imitators, some that still exist even to this day. Including this film…
Sinister Stepsister is essentially another riff on the aforementioned Single White Female, with this film’s antagonist inserting herself into the life of Jeff Mitchell, a man who seems to have it all. He has an interesting and lucrative job, a loving wife, and two amazing kids. Therefore, life is good. However, on one bright day, a cosmic sucker punch comes out of the blue. When Jeff was in high school, unbeknownst to him, he got his girlfriend pregnant. Next, the girl moved away, had the baby, and raised her as a single mother, never telling her daughter, Carlee, who her real father was. However, Carlee’s mother recently died in a tragic accident, prompting Carlee to try and uncover the truth. Maybe Jeff is not so lucky after all?
The plot of Sinister Stepsister is nothing we haven’t seen before, following a VERY familiar formula that has been used a myriad of times before – in other TV movies and in sleazy direct-to-market titles. The only thing different about this film is that it doesn’t really go far enough in terms of ANYTHING. This film is too clean-cut, even when compared to another SWF film, Single Black Female, which at least threw in more horrific elements at the end of the movie. Sinister Stepsister is too watered down, too neutered to have any real impact.
Which means this film relies on its performances to hold the audience’s attention. Unfortunately, Sinister Stepsister only has one real stand-out role: Tu Morrow as the daughter of the Mitchell family, Ella. Her performance has the right note of tenacity and she also comes across as the most genuine; especially when you compare it to the film’s antagonist Carlee – Annika Foster doesn’t really have much to do other than look sinister and act oddly. There should be depth to a character like this, Carlee is unfortunately far too two-dimensional to be an intriguing villain.
If you’re a fan of this kind of “home invasion” thriller and SWF films as a whole you just might enjoy Sinister Stepsister. Until the weak ending that is. It’s hard to believe Sinister Stepsister comes from the same director who made the fantastic 90s horror Amityville: A New Generation…
