11 December 2024
Season of the Witch (1971)
104 min.
Directed by George Romero.
With Jan White, Raymond Laine, Ann Muffy, Joedda McClain, Bill Thunhurst, Neil Fisher, Esther Lapidus, Dan Mallinger, Daryl Montgomery, Ken Peters, Shirlee Strasser, Robert Trow, Virginia Greenwald.
Director George Romero's fourth feature was this (very) lowkey tale of wifely angst.

Bored suburban housewife Joan (White) feels trapped. She finds her subdued life nearly unbearable, her marriage and family life an experience-free existence.

After she pays a visit to a local practicing witch, Joan comes to believe the black arts might hold some meaning for her...

But will Joan's rites of passage as a witch require some diabolical deed as part of the initiation? Does she even know what she's doing? Is it all in her head?

Overly talky for its own good and hampered by some slow-as-molasses character developments, still Romero injects a few nice moments including Joan's nightmare sequences and her shotgun 'freedom' at the climax.

None of it is as memorable or energized as it should be. But it does evidence Romero's range and adaptability as a director, and on that front it's passable enough.

Also known as either Hungry Wives or as Jack's Wife.

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