"Season of the Witch" is a little scene telemovie from Mr Living Dead himself, George Romero's early career.
Romero's films generally had a social conscience that people often miss, preferring to think of them as moronic gorefests. "Night of the Living Dead" called to mind a lynch mob with the crowd of zombies after the African-American hero (largely unseen in the Sixties), and who could forget the devastating ending?
"Season of the Witch" seems like his take on feminism, which was then in its second wave - "The Female Eunuch" came out a couple of years beforehand. The protagonist is a bored and neglected housewife who flirts with the occult, which is presented like an adulterous relationship. A friend introduces her to a "witch", who gives tarot card readings, and explains how she used to be sworn to secrecy - but in "today's age, anything goes". It sounds very much like the so-called "sexual revolution" of the sixties, in horror movie terms.
You can tell TV movies, especially older ones, by the amateurish way they are photographed and dialogued. Often the camera seems too close, and cuts are sometimes off-putting because the framing doesn't seem right. You can also sometimes catch the actors' lips moving out of sync with the sound. I wonder why this is? It's not what you would expect from a guy whose last movie changed the world. Perhaps the TV station this was filmed for couldn't pay for a decent director of photography, or sound technician.
Frustrated with her suburban lifestyle, the protagonist fully embraces witchcraft. The story only really becomes interesting at this point, and then only momentarily.
"Season of the Witch" is pretty dull and featureless. They could have made the protagonist interesting, but they really didn't. It's status as an unseen and unheard of movie in Romero's filmography is deserved. Don't waste your time unless you're a completist.
Romero's films generally had a social conscience that people often miss, preferring to think of them as moronic gorefests. "Night of the Living Dead" called to mind a lynch mob with the crowd of zombies after the African-American hero (largely unseen in the Sixties), and who could forget the devastating ending?
"Season of the Witch" seems like his take on feminism, which was then in its second wave - "The Female Eunuch" came out a couple of years beforehand. The protagonist is a bored and neglected housewife who flirts with the occult, which is presented like an adulterous relationship. A friend introduces her to a "witch", who gives tarot card readings, and explains how she used to be sworn to secrecy - but in "today's age, anything goes". It sounds very much like the so-called "sexual revolution" of the sixties, in horror movie terms.
You can tell TV movies, especially older ones, by the amateurish way they are photographed and dialogued. Often the camera seems too close, and cuts are sometimes off-putting because the framing doesn't seem right. You can also sometimes catch the actors' lips moving out of sync with the sound. I wonder why this is? It's not what you would expect from a guy whose last movie changed the world. Perhaps the TV station this was filmed for couldn't pay for a decent director of photography, or sound technician.
Frustrated with her suburban lifestyle, the protagonist fully embraces witchcraft. The story only really becomes interesting at this point, and then only momentarily.
"Season of the Witch" is pretty dull and featureless. They could have made the protagonist interesting, but they really didn't. It's status as an unseen and unheard of movie in Romero's filmography is deserved. Don't waste your time unless you're a completist.