The Stepford Wives (1975) - Mirco-Review

I think that there is something extremely unsettling and truly disturbing about the idea of a secret club of men who that want to replace you with a robot clone, all taking place in a supposed suburban haven. The Stepford Wives was based on a novel of the same name written by Ira Levin (who also wrote Rosemary's Baby.) 

The film follows a family who decide to move from Manhattan to Stepford, a town where everyone is living the American Dream. Joanne, the mother of the family, starts to think that the housewives of Stepford are too perfect. Joanne and her friend start to get even more suspicious of the members of the men's club. Joanne, now convinced the women of Stepford aren't human, has to get out of Stepford before they change her as well, but will she be able to get away?

A few years back I watched Nicole Kidmam's remake and all I can remember is how stupid the whole movie was. They took this disturbing story and made it a crappy low-brow comedy. I was left with a bad taste in my mouth, until I saw that Stephen King added the original film to his list of horrors that contributed to the genre, after which I immediately wanted to see it...

Needless to say, I was not let down. From the family's arrival in Stepford I was captivated! The story was great, which is not surprising since Rosemary's Baby is considered to be one of the best horror films ever made. Many of the same themes explored in Rosemary's Baby are also present in Stepford. One of the biggest themes it has in common is the protagonist's feeling that everyone around her is out to get her, even her husband. The film's continuous satirical commentary on the absurdity of gender roles is also very entertaining.

Kathrine Ross, who plays Joanna, is one of my favorite parts of this movie (and the fact that she reminded me a lot of a young Catherine Deneuve makes it even better!) The rest of the supporting cast also did wonderful jobs. The kids were as bad as kid actors usually are but at least they got near to no screen time.

Left: Kathrine Ross. Right: Cathrine Deneuve

For most of the film I found the characters believable and interesting but close to the end of the film, Joanne's actions seemed extremely stupid and unbelievable. How she reacted resembled Melanie Daniels in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, who towards the end of the film seemed to lose the ability to successfully open a door... 

The Stepford Wives is truly a great psychological horror film. With a great story, great characters and great direction this is a definite see for any film lover!

Rating: 8/10

The Haunting (1963) Review - The Insomniac's Cinema

The Haunting
1963
Horror
Robert Wise


In my opinion this can easily be considered to be one of the best haunted house movies ever made. It has everything you want in a this type of film, from the interesting characters to the scary house itself. The film was based on Shirley Jackson's 1959 novel, The Haunting of Hill house and was directed by Robert Wise (who two years later directed The Sound of Music) It stars Julie Harris as Eleanor Lance, a troubled young woman who gets invited by Dr. Markway to join the paranormal investigation into Hill house.

When she arrives at Hill House she meets Theo, Dr Markway and Luke Sanderson and together they embark on their paranormal investigation into Hill House. At First everyone is skeptical until things start to go horribly wrong and they realize that the house is in fact haunted...

Eleanor is an extremely interesting character (and was also portrayed fantastically) At the beginning of the movie she starts off as very naive and innocent (with hints that she does have a dark side) but as the movies progresses, Hill House (and it's spirits) start to change her into something very screwed up. During the film we don't get to know much of Eleanor's background but the things that you do know really make her up to be someone who is capable of doing things that (at first sight) you never thought she would or could do.

Since this movie is a 60's black and white horror film it does contain some overacting and overall cheesiness but in the end the characters still seem realistic and can successfully creep you out(Eleanor's dancing scene anyone?) The sets were also fantastically chosen, Hill House is extremely scary! Even though you don't really see the "ghosts" in the movie they are still very menacing thanks to the way they taunted the characters. (As properly demonstrated in the scene where Eleanor and Theo are trapped in their bedrooms)

The only thing that I would've wanted to see more of were actual paranormal experiments and also to see how the spirits affected the other characters...

All in all The Haunting is a truly fantastic movie and a definite watch for all movie buffs!


...9/ 10...(doors built on an angle)