"The Stepfather" has an 88% approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes and an average rating of 6.8/10 out of 32 reviews. Film critic Roger Ebert, from the "Chicago Sun-Times", gave the movie 2.5 stars out of 4, and commented, "Violence itself seems to sell at the box office, even when it's divorced from any context. Maybe that's what the filmmakers were thinking. What often happens, though, is that in an otherwise flawed film there are a couple of things that are wonderful. "The Stepfather" has one wonderful element: Terry O'Quinn's performance."