The Stepford Children

It has been 15 years since I first saw "The Stepford Children" on TV, so I'm a little fuzzy on the details. But from what I recall, this chapter in the saga was much better than the uninspired "Revenge of the Stepford Wives." The "Children" TV movie tried to combine the best of both previous ventures with an enjoyable result (for TV-fare). Barbara Eden did a fine job as the new wife in peril. Keeping kids in line has never been so fun! Unfortunately, as this movie had no big stars other than Ms. Eden, it has never seen the light of day on VHS or DVD. That is too bad. "Revenge" at least got a VHS release due to Don Johnson being in the credits. Maybe we will be lucky enough to get a better quality transfer to DVD for the 30th Anniversary edition of the original with the two TV movies added in a box set... Now that would bring a smile to Dis' face up there in the Men's Association.

The second sequel to the 1975 sci-fi classic THE STEPFORD WIVES, following on from REVENGE OF THE STEPFORD WIVES; THE STEPFORD HUSBANDS would follow in the 1990s. These three sequels are all television movies of varying quality, but at least they're more interesting than the bland Hollywood remake with Nicole Kidman.

Sadly, THE STEPFORD CHILDREN is a largely uninteresting retread of the first film's plot, except that now the children have been transformed into perfect specimens rather than the wives. It's a bit of an odd choice, making the first hour of this film very slow and laboured, because we already know the story and events from the first film so why drag it out again?

It doesn't help that the characters range from the uninteresting to the downright unlikeable, although some interest builds with the younger cast members as the story progresses. The only part I really liked was the climax, which is actually decent and pretty frightening; we get to see what THE STEPFORD CHILDREN look like underneath and it's a good effect. A shame we had to sit through the rest of the production to get to this bit, though.

You may have serious doubts about watching the third sequel to The Stepford Wifes, but this is an absolute classic. Much scarier in premise than the first, and very entertaining. It only got a video release here in the UK, but should be released worldwide for everyone to enjoy.

This film begins with a man named "Steven Harding" (Don Murray) purchasing a home in the small town of Stepford, Connecticut where he used to live about 18 years earlier. He then returns to New York City and together both he and his wife "Laura Harding" (Barbara Eden) pack up the car and head on out. Also with them are their two teenage children "David Harding" (Randall Batinkoff) and "Mary Harding" (Tammy Lauren) who are both a little rebellious at times--especially with their father. Be that as it may, once they arrive both David and Mary are shocked to see just how dull and boring all the other kids in school are. There is, however, one particular teenage girl named "Lois Gregson" (Debbie Barker) who also recently arrived in Stepford and isn't like the others and because of that both her and David hit it off right away. For that matter, both Laura and Lois' mother "Sandy Gregson" (Sharon Spelman) also become good friends due in large part because everyone else in Stepford seems so strange. And then one day Sandy also begins acting different--and this has a direct effect on everyone involved. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that I honestly didn't expect too much from this film until I noticed that Barbara Eden was starring in it. I mention this because she is one of those actresses who can typically take a film with an uninspired plot and bring it up to a reasonable level. Unfortunately, this wasn't one of those times because the plot in this film was basically the same as the original movie, "The Stepford Wives" and its sequel, "Revenge of the Stepford Wives" with the only difference being the age of some of the victims. That being said, there really weren't too many surprises here. Throw in a rather botched ending and I honestly have no choice but to rate it as slightly below average.

Considering the excellence of the original Stepford Wives, I find it very hard to believe that Ira Levin had a hand in this very poor "clone" (no pun intended).

It's a formulaic as I've ever seen coming out of Hollywood. We all know the ending from the first five minutes of the the start.

Barbara Eden just does not suit this role. For starters, she's too old, secondly, she's typecast and we can't get Jeanie out of our heads.

It's poorly directed and all the acting is hammed up to the limit, with each character trying his or her self to be a silly stereotype.

Richard Anderson, who played Oscar Goldman in The 6 million Dollar Man is no match for Patrick O'Neal in The Stepford Wives. Everything about this movie shouts "Low budget" and "Hurried".

I watched this movie, so you don't have to. Please don't make the same mistake.

BTW, the remake of The Stepford Wives (with Christopher Walken and Glen Close is even worse.