George Romero's Season of the Witch (AKA Hungry Wives) looks like it's his take on Robert Altman's Images which came out the same year, plus witchcraft. It's less subtle and more visceral (maybe those come hand in hand), but the result is much the same. It's about a despondent, bored housewife whose loneliness causes her to go mad. In this one, the madness is represented by fish-eyed nightmares filled with creepy imagery and odd electronic noises like a '70s Doctor Who episode that's gone off the end (the sound design is strong throughout). Even once she's communing with the Devil, having found her power, a power that scares her, Romero leaves it ambiguous as to the nature (or supernature) of what we're seeing. So it's a satirical piece of suburban existentialism that contrasts male and female agency and updates the Salem trial stories to a modern, liberated context. Nice use of Donovan's song too. We're only two movies away from Romero's better-known debut, Night of the Living Dead, here, but I dare say this is just as great.
Add your comment
Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Siskoid
George Romero's Season of the Witch (AKA Hungry Wives) looks like it's his take on Robert Altman's Images which came out the same year, plus witchcraft. It's less subtle and more visceral (maybe those come hand in hand), but the result is much the same. It's about a despondent, bored housewife whose loneliness causes her to go mad. In this one, the madness is represented by fish-eyed nightmares filled with creepy imagery and odd electronic noises like a '70s Doctor Who episode that's gone off the end (the sound design is strong throughout). Even once she's communing with the Devil, having found her power, a power that scares her, Romero leaves it ambiguous as to the nature (or supernature) of what we're seeing. So it's a satirical piece of suburban existentialism that contrasts male and female agency and updates the Salem trial stories to a modern, liberated context. Nice use of Donovan's song too. We're only two movies away from Romero's better-known debut, Night of the Living Dead, here, but I dare say this is just as great.samoan
AKA Season of the Witch