The StepFather was produced and directed by Joseph Ruben in 1987.  The plot of the film focuses on Susan and her daughter, who lost their husband/father a year ago. The mother remarries a man named Jerry Blake, but the daughter does not like her new stepfather and believes there is something strange about him.

Although the plots of The Stepfather and Psycho are very different, the dominant themes and protagonists of the films seem very similar. In The Stepfather, Jerry seems to be an ordinary man. He is a middle-class real estate agent who just got married and seems to be normal in front of people. Nothing seems to be odd about his character until his stepdaughter accidently witnesses him losing his temper and talking to himself violently in the basement. Then when Jerry finds out that his stepdaughter is having improper sexual behavior with a boy from school, he goes wild and is set off by her behavior. Likewise, in Psycho, Norman seems to be an ordinary innkeeper who is deeply devoted to caring for his ailing mother.  However, after Norman spies on Marion undressing in the bathroom, his character is set off like Jerry. Both Jerry and Norman turn from calm and “normal” individuals into monsters who are violent and murderous.

It seems that Ruben is deeply influenced by Psycho’s plot and used it as guide in his own film. The audience will find small characteristic traits in Jerry that are the same as those in Norman. In The StepFather, there are also other scenes where elements of Pyscho, such as birds, have been combined to show that there is a connection between both films.