An “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” for the feminist era, novelist Ira Levin’s horror science fiction thriller is an ode to the fear of feminism, the unwelcome reception it received by old fashioned men who grew up in a society predominantly ruled by subservient women and a bit of a paranoid fantasy that takes the best of feminism and matches it with the male ego that ultimately attempts to snuff out the girl power movement enacted by women after the sixties and take it in to an era where women were soon relegated to tools and props as status symbols for men unwilling to submit to a woman who was well spoken, intelligent, and always anxious to give their men hell for making decisions that they didn’t approve with. Sure it’s an anti-male diatribe, but so what? “The Stepford Wives” original as directed by Bryan Forbes is a reflection on a society that wants to have it both ways.
In the days of overexposed, computer heavy FX extravaganzas, horror films that go for a more subtle build of terror are usually dismissed as cheap throwaways that just don’t have the budget to compete with the big studio thrill rides. It’s no secret that the “less is more” philosophy is the independent filmmaker’s best friend, but occasionally there comes along a movie that embraces its sense of mystery and uses a building sense of menace to its advantage.
People say that M. Night Shyamlan is the David Blaine of filmmaking, a man with parlor tricks and elaborate illusions of creativity and imagination but I dismiss those claims and still stand by M. Night proclaiming him one of the better storytellers of modern film. Sure, there could be other horror films out there, but in a year generally devoid of horror only with remakes and quasi-horror in theaters and on home video I say that M. Night’s dabbling in the R rated arena was an utter win.
It used to be a simple case of “If you don’t like it, don’t watch it.” Hell, if I don’t like a show, I just don’t watch it, but hear me out. With “Smallville” it’s different. At one time it used to be an excellent show, one that promised to be all about Clark Kent and his transformation in to Superman. Then somewhere on the fourth season, it was sold down the river and this show about Clark became a show about everyone else but Clark. I’m a hardcore true to the blood Superman fan and it’s not as easy as “If you don’t like it, don’t watch it.” I still sit and endure “Smallville” to this day because I pray and hope that it will return to its former glory of being about something.