By Melissa Garza
Joanna Eberhart (Katharine Ross) agrees to move to the suburban clean town of Stepford Connecticut with her husband Walter (Peter Masterson) after he is offered a prestigious new job.
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Upon arriving the place seems a bit backwards and it seems as though the women’s liberation movement hadn’t reached the beautiful pristine town yet. Joanna is unnerved but decides that with the help of a like-minded friend, Bobbie (Paula Prentiss) that they can help radicalize the women of Stepford and show them how to realize their potential. They try to hold a meeting but are faced with ladies more interested in keeping their men happy, cooking and cleaning than a revolutionary way of thinking.
Joanna becomes frustrated by the mentality and soon decides that maybe Stepford isn’t the best place to raise her kids. Walter insists she tries to give it more of a chance and reluctantly she agrees. As he becomes more involved in the town with the Stepford Men’s Club, Joanna becomes more isolated. One of her only friends Charmaine (Tina Louise) transcends from a liberated intelligent woman to an unthinking wife living only to make her husband happy.
Joanna soon realizes that there is more to Stepford than high morals and a love for things old fashioned. After looking into the history of the town, and seeing the same women who appear docile and meek in meetings exploring the women’s movement, it becomes clear that there is much more than meets the eye.
Convinced that the women were being controlled in some strange way by the men of the town Joanna teams up with Bobbie to discover the truth. As they come closer, their own existence and mind become targets and the enormity of the threat is finally revealed. In fear of her very mind, Joanna decides to take her children and leave the town with or without Walter.
This movie is without a doubt terrifying. It is told from the woman’s point of view at a time when women were first given a voice. Their ideas were being listened to and taken seriously. Equality seemed right around the corner, and to take a step back was unthinkable. That is what this film offers. Joanna is strong, and understands the abilities of women. She’d willingly fight for them, and has to with her life. It is still unnerving to think of a group of men attempting to force women into happy unthinking housewives who live only to serve them and their needs. When it appears that they may get what they want, it is downright horrifying.
The acting in the movie is amazing. When Joanna sees that her friend has become one of the Stepford Wives and can no longer recall a word’s definition that she used to know, Ross’s reaction is amazing. Her eyes are nearly black and her voice is rigid as she declares, “It’s not on the list.”
Matching the acting is the dialogue, especially from Joanna. At one point, when she is trying to make sense of everything she declares, “If I am wrong, I’m insane… but if I’m right, it’s even worse than if I was wrong. “
Because of moments like this, Joanna’s fear resonates with the audience who are left with a tense feeling throughout the last half of the movie and a little voice inside their heads saying, “Get the hell out!”
This, like many of the movies in its time, has an amazing ending and a brilliant cast. In a day and age, when gore substitutes for plot, it is great to be able to watch a movie like this and understand what a great horror film is supposed to be like.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8.5/10
