George A. Romero’s Season of the Witch: A Gradual Feminist Exploration of the Occult

George A. Romero is widely recognized as the pioneer of the modern zombie film. However, between his groundbreaking work on Night of the Living Dead and the outbreak horror of The Crazies, he also created two lesser-known films: There’s Always Vanilla, which I must admit I haven’t seen, and Season of the Witch, originally titled Hungry Wives.

Hungry Wives was intended to be an exploitation film, marketed as softcore porn, but it struggled to find an audience—likely due to its minimal nudity, just one sex scene, and a heavy focus on dialogue. It was a notable flop when it debuted in 1973. The film was later rebranded as Season of the Witch after Romero’s Dawn of the Dead reignited interest in his work.

Unfortunately, Romero’s original 130-minute cut has been lost, but some parts have been recovered and restored, extending the original 89-minute release to 104 minutes. A significant factor in its initial failure, aside from the distributor’s decision to cut 40 minutes, is that what Romero created wasn’t a softcore film; instead, it’s a slow-burn feminist drama where the occult plays a secondary role.

The protagonist, Joan Mitchell, finds herself trapped in an abusive marriage and dissatisfied with her submissive housewife role. In her quest for escape, she turns from therapy to witchcraft.

Season of the Witch does have its flaws. The production quality is notably low—reportedly made for just $100,000 (around $800,000 today). The acting varies widely; while Jan White delivers a strong performance, some actors seem to be reading from cue cards or overact in a way reminiscent of campy performances.

Despite its shortcomings, there’s a captivating quality to Romero’s direction and his, for the time, refreshingly progressive take on feminism. Even with its dialogue-heavy approach, Season of the Witch creates a tense and occasionally hallucinatory atmosphere, culminating in a somewhat predictable yet satisfying ending.

Season of the Witch is available for streaming on Mubi and Kanopy.