IF YOU IDENTIFY AS A WOMAN, CHANCES ARE YOU’VE SPENT SOME TIME CONTEMPLATING WHETHER YOU’RE THE “RIGHT” TYPE OF WOMAN. For some of us, maybe this means being smaller, skinnier or taking up less space in general. For others, it involves being tidier, quieter or more pleasant. For others still, it’s a matter of appearance, which can be impossible to change: having a smaller nose, straighter hair, lighter skin. Regardless of whether these expectations are imposed by society, celebrity culture, family, partners or one’s own damn self, they’re complex and often frightening to navigate. And they make an ideal premise for a horror film.
Ira Levin wrote The Stepford Wives in 1972, in the wake of Roman Polanski’s hugely successful 1968 film adaptation of his novel Rosemary’s Baby. It too…