Season of the Witch (1973)

3 Stars (out of 4)

Desperate Housewife

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy Season of the Witch on DVD.

George A. Romero was still trying to jettison the "horror director" stigma when he made his third film, Season of the Witch (1973), a kind of combination of a domestic drama and occult tale. Originally called Jack's Wife and/or Hungry Wives, the film doesn't even begin to dabble in the supernatural until past the 60-minute mark. A housewife, Joan Mitchell (Jan White), stuck married to an aggravating lout, gets bored and begins hanging around with one of her daughter's friends, until she eventually becomes a witch and starts getting her revenge. Though Romero's screenplay flows realistically and the talk sounds organic, much of it crosses over into the hippie-era realm and is severely dated. Romero gets good performances from his cast, and he has a good feel for natural rhythms. It's certainly an interesting film, but fans of Romero's Martin (1978) or his zombie films will not find more of the same. Donovan's great title song plays on the soundtrack during a "witchcraft" montage.

DVD Details: Anchor Bay Entertainment has released Season of the Witch as a "lost classic," paired with Romero's even rarer second film, There's Always Vanilla (1971), a curiosity with no horror elements at all. The transfers on both films are below average, and Anchor Bay even provides a disclaimer, apologizing for the low quality. According to some sources, Season of the Witch once ran something like 130 minutes, but the DVD features the 104-minute cut. Extras include the 60-minute television special "The Directors: The Films of George A. Romero," a new featurette about the making of the film, and trailers and credit sequences for the various versions. Side "B" (the Vanilla side) comes with a second featurette, a trailer and a Romero bio.