The Chilling Horror Satire That Was Unfairly Overshadowed by Its 2000s Remake

The big picture

• The Stepford Wives
  is presented as a chilling feminist horror story with disturbing twists and turns.
• The film deftly uses elements to tackle heavy subjects, inspired by Jordan Peele's masterpiece,
  To go out
  .
• The slow-paced horror film criticizes conservative ideals and societal fears in a terrifyingly relevant way.

The term “Stepford Wife” is one that is now embedded in pop culture and modern society. The archetype is usually perceived as a bland, 1950s-like housewife and stay-at-home mom in a cocktail dress and scarf. Although the title is regularly referenced, the actual literary and cinematic origins are less well known. The Stepford Wivespublished in September 1972, it was written by Ira Levin of The rosemary baby acclamation And just like The rosemary baby, the novel is a chilling feminist horror story with some disturbing twists. There were two film adaptations of the book, and unfortunately most are only familiar with the 2004 film starring Nicole Kidman, Glenn Closei Christopher Walken. While fun and kitschy, this adaptation lacks the slow-building dread, nail-biting suspense, and satirical punch of the 1975 original.

What is 'The Stepford Wives' about?

Directed by Bryan Forbes and written for the screen by William Goldman1975 The Stepford Wives follows Levin's story by up-and-coming photographer Joanna Eberhart (The graduated's Katharine Ross) as she moves with her husband and children from New York City to the suburban town of Stepford, Connecticut. Once there, Joanna has trouble fitting in between the almost eerily compliant housewives and their mysterious husbands, who spend a lot of time at their “Men's Association.” She finds herself embroiled in a conspiracy, trying to uncover surprisingly dark secrets hidden beneath the idyllic suburban facade. It's slow-burning, as most great thrillers are, and a fantastic satire of a society where men will go to horrendous lengths to get their wives to conform to their ideal, conservative family structure. With bills currently being pushed by Republican lawmakers to try to restrict access to abortion, birth control and women's rights, The Stepford Wives Unfortunately, it's more terribly relevant than ever as a critique of male fantasy.

Major spoiler warnings are probably in order here. May be the most important thing to discuss when looking at the satire of The Stepford Wives they are the same titular wives, along with his strange nature. From the beginning they are portrayed as conformists who all dress alike in light pastel dresses and sun hats. Cooking, cleaning and shopping seem integrated into the very fabric of her being. As revealed towards the end of the film, the women are actually robotic duplicates of themselves built by the town's Men's Association (aka their husbands). The real wives are killed and eliminated by the robotic replicas of themselves. This perfectly speaks to the satire of the film. The men in this community do not want the intelligence, talents, individuality or personality of their women. They all murder these original selves in order to live out their cookie-cutter vision of the toxic male fantasy of “domestic bliss.” It's absolutely hellish, a clear satire on the robotic and docile version of women against which a traditional and conservative society fights.

In one of the film's scariest moments, protagonist Joanna confronts her friend Bobbie (Paula Prentiss), who, unbeknownst to her, has been replaced by a robotic clone. Their confrontation culminates in Joanna stabbing the fake Bobbie, who short-circuits. Bobbie starts walking around the kitchen, opening drawers and repeating previously created sentences about cleaning, cooking and recipes. This scene finds such horror in its simplicity. When trouble strikes, these clones show their true colors as uncanny summaries of the valley of a conservative society's idea of ​​a perfect woman. The film uses them skillfully twilight zone-esque approach to his heavy subjects and is a clear inspiration Jordan Peelethe masterpiece of social terror, To go out.

'The Stepford Wives' leans more towards horror than the Nicole Kidman remake

The Stepford Wives it is able to achieve its deeper metaphorical goals thanks to the fact that it is a horror film. Horror is almost always the most reliable genre when it comes to social commentary, as these films can reflect the mass fears of a society. In this case, the whole society is portrayed through a seemingly idyllic suburb. Through slow-building dread and a genuinely terrifying conclusion, The Stepford Wives it works confidently as a horror film in its own right, as well as a scathing critique of conservative ideals.

The pace of the film is one of the key ingredients of the overall scare. While the idea of ​​robotic housewives may seem a bit ridiculous, the film is able to keep this concept grounded and believable through its slow pace. There are no brutal death scenes, jump scares or any outwardly serious acts of violence throughout the film. It feels more like a mystery than anything else, allowing the viewer to slowly reach the edge of their seats rather than falling into it too quickly. As Joanna desperately tries to uncover the secrets of the husbands' conspiracy, the film grows more tense with each clue. Throughout the film, there's a nagging sense that he's running out of time to solve the Stepford mystery. A slow burn is most effective at creating a sense of dread, and it works well here to help build the conclusion.

Towards the end of the film, Joanna discovers her yet-to-be-completed robotic replacement with creepy black eyes at the Men's Association headquarters. The robotic clone stands up and slowly walks towards Joanna, killing her completely off-screen. The entire film is a build-up to this scene, a truly shocking death with eerie imagery that feels years ahead of its time. This scene is also enhanced by its futuristic, surreal score and sudden cut to black. What's perhaps even scarier is the aftermath of her death, which sees Joanna replaced in a grocery store, fitting right in with all the other automated wives. Joanna is a phenomenal main character. She is funny, loving, strong and a talented artist. It makes this ending even more terrifying and it goes back to the comment in question.

America is awfully close to becoming its own full-scale version of Stepford in the current political environment. With an ongoing conservative push to return to the days of imposed traditional values, as well as the overturning of Roe V. Wade, in addition to bills seeking to restrict access to abortion, birth control and women's health care in general, Republican lawmakers feel a little too much. like Stepford husbands. It's horrible to say, though The Stepford Wives it remains in the modern world as a social commentary because there are still many who want this society to become a reality. It's a more important film than ever and one that shouldn't be overlooked on any feminist cinephile's watchlist.

The Stepford Wives is available to stream on Tubi in the US

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