The Stepsister (1997)

A modern day Cinderella tale. In this one, a Ph.D. candidate loses her mother, a pediatrician, in what is thought of as a tragic accident. Soon, her father, also a physician, meets a woman (Linda Evans) with an interesting daughter. They marry and the fun begins.Evans and her daughter Melinda are thieves. The twist comes when Evans actually falls in love with the doctor and tells her daughter that she is calling off their plans. When the husband is killed by Evans' daughter, mother wants to send her away but this brat has other plans-killing her mother and blaming the Ph.D candidate!The plot twists here are excellent. The movie moves at a fast pace and is a joy to watch on the screen. The psychological trapping at the end is a delight for the viewer as well.

I thought I was watching Days of our Lives or one of the other afternoon soap operas. When the camera panned the evil stepsister from the toes up, I knew my patience would be tried, but after I surfed and found no Columbo episodes on, I tried to lock in to this 'mystery' where any chance of playing detective was spoiled when little Miss Evil woke Joanie from a deep slumber to urge her to up the dosage. Now it became strictly a thriller, with the requisite scene of plucky young woman entering the killer's house, without police backup as the plot turned out. I could almost hear Mary Roberts Rinehart typing the script.Little inconsistencies: On that occasion the killer, who is in the clear according to the police, calls the law to protect herself. Yet when she spots a burglar in her house later, she confronts the invader herself. Oh, some mental midget will tell us she could not call the law because she knew the crook was into her supply of digoxin and she would be found out, but that is a crock. Her whole modus was thinking she had everyone wrapped around her finger.Then there are all the scenes when the heroine looks from the window of the guest house and sees what is going on in her father's house, AFTER turning on a light in her room. Try to gaze out the window into the dark when there is a bright light burning behind you. You will see nothing.Another experiment I must try is looking at another car thru the side mirror of mine. In the scene where Ms. Evil drove Dad to work, she appears to get back in a car with right hand drive. My co-watcher says this because we see the scene in the side mirror of the heroine's car, but even in a mirror right is right and left is left.The actress who played the stepsister was awful. The black widow spider is supposed to have some charm to attract the victims; this one set off waves telling one and all to run the other way. Except for her cat fights with the heroine, it was impossible to believe in her. Tuesday Weld set the standard for these type parts in Pretty Poison; this particular actress is Thursday, and she has far to go.As the climax neared in the operating room, I had this horrible thought that I had seen the film before for I predicted that the needle held water, not poison. Seeing the villain trying to seduce the prison doctor as the screen faded, I was hoping this was not a set up for a sequel.

What can I say about this movie. It is a great mystery suspense movie starring rena sofer. Rena left her emmy winning role on general hospital to do tv and movies, and she did the right thing. Linda Evans returns to tv also. If you love a good mystery, watch this movie!!!!!

The Stepsister is a brilliant movie about a money grabbing woman named Joan who with a little help from her daughter, marries men, then kills them covering up the murders and then gets all there money. But, when Joan ends up falling in love with one of the men she's supposed to kill, her evil daughter, Melinda makes a cunning plan to kill them all and get the money for herself. She has to get past the mans daughter, Darcie though, who's very suspicious and knows something is up the minute she meets Joan and Melinda.Rena Sofer who plays the lead role here is brilliant as usual and is fast becoming one of my all time favourite actress'. Linda Evans who plays Joan is also good too. The only complaint I have is, Bridgette Wilson. She really doesn't do a job in her role. She's just whiny and annoying. Still, not even that can spoil this original suspense thriller.If you want to see a great thriller which keeps you interested all the way than The Stepsister is for you and I give it a 10/10.