Finally, a horror thriller served up straight.

No werewolves, Lycans or jerks named Jigsaw.

And best of all, no freaking vampires.

But the best you can say about the remake of "The Stepfather," that serial-killer-in-mommy's-bed tingler of 1987, is that it efficiently goes about its business. The suspense is there, but because there's no mystery to this thriller, it's all about how soon the teen (Penn Badgley) will figure out who that creep Mom wants to marry really is, who will believe him and who will have to die because they won't listen to the kid.

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'The Stepfather'

1 1/2 stars = Bad
Ratings explained

• Starring: Dylan Walsh, Penn Badgley, Sela Ward, Amber Heard.
• Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing images, mature thematic material and brief sensuality.
• Web site: www.welcometothefamily.com/

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We meet the murderer (Dylan Walsh) in a chilling opening-credits sequence, primly shaving, dying his hair, making the coffee and peanut-buttering his toast. The camera pulls back to reveal the bodies of his "family," scattered all around him.

His whole modus operandi is laid out in those credits. He breaks out the shaving kit. And he cancels the newspaper so that it will be days before the bodies are discovered.

The guy is charming, picking out his next quarry by playing the lonely, lost widower in the supermarket. Susan (Sela Ward) falls under his spell.

Walsh, of TV's "Nip/Tuck," does "nice with an edge" well. He turns the creepiness on and off, aided by lighting (he physically darkens in a couple of scenes).

This "Stepfather" isn't as jolting as the 1987 original, which starred Terry O'Quinn. Maybe it's the way director Nelson McCormick (also from "Nip/Tuck") and screenwriter J.S. Cardone muck around with the original Donald Westlake script, giving away the secrets, stripping much of the mystery from the guy. Some of that's necessary for the too-obvious foreshadowing, but part of the stepfather's menace is that we know what he's capable of without seeing it in graphic detail before the pull-out-the-stops finale.

That last stormy night of violence should be the shocker. Giving away his ruthlessness in earlier killings robs the movie of it its payoff as it saps the climax of much of its power. And the finale? Pure cheese, and utterly botched here.

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