Rish Outfield's reviews
I had heard of this film for years, probably ever since I first read Stephen King's Danse Macabre, and when I saw the DVD the other day, I had to pick it up, just for fun. I somehow persuaded my new/old viewing pal to watch it with me (as I had with a lot of these past reviews; remember true believers, horror movies are always better with company), again, just for fun. And we watched it. And it wasn't exactly fun, but it was very, very good.
Joanna and her husband Walter move to Stepford, the perfect little Connecticut community, where everybody's happy, where there's no divorce or unemployment, where all the children are obedient and the wives are every husband's dream. But it's not a dream for Joanna, who feels left out of family decisions and cut off from the life she wanted to have in the big city. She finds a kindred spirit in Bobbie, a fellow housewife who is equally suspicious about the goings-on in town, especially the seemingly brainwashed wives who have no desires other than to please their husbands.
This was a very American story (would it have worked in Japan or Mexico or even Britain?), and although the film is a product of the Seventies, it hadn't dated much. In fact, its themes probably resonate just a little stronger now, since women's fight for equality has advanced so much since then.
There's something shameful about the whole Stepford society, something that made me feel both disgusted and guilty, as if I had somehow consented to the whole thing. And that's the brilliance of it--it dares cart out the most shameful secrets and desires of men and parade them around the town square. We, as male onlookers, can roll our eyes and decry it as fanciful lies, but we know, oh we know, the awful truth of it all. But as with the best social commentary, it is shrouded in a story of fantasy or science fiction, and we can take it this way and say that it's just a story.
The film was made in 1975, but from the new DVD print, it was impossible to date. Except for the music (and some fashions), it could've been made in the '60s, the '80s, or next Thursday. When it was originally released, among '70s sensibilities, it would have made quite a statement. I don't think that statement is quite as powerful today (in the, what, the ‘00's?), but then again, maybe in some ways, it's MORE powerful. Apparently this film was despised by feminists when it was originally released, and that's absolutely ludicrous. Had any feminist with enough intellect to pronounce "feminist" actual seen the film, they would probably laud it. I ask you, is "The Stepford Wives" an attack on women . . . or men?
I'd Recommend It To: Newly-weds. Just kidding. But I'd recommend it to pretty much everyone else.
Note: Tina Louise, not exactly my favourite "Gilligan's Island" cast member appears, leading me to wonder if there are any Bob Denver or Jim Backus horror movies out there.

Total Skulls: 7

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears		Mary Stuart Masterson
Former celebrity appears		Tina Louise
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood hits camera
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?