Hungry Wives (1972)

Director:

George A. Romero

Writer:

George A. Romero (writer)

Release Date:

18 April 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror

Tagline:

Every Night is Halloween.

Plot:

A bored, unhappy suburban housewife gets mixed up in witchcraft and murder.

Plot Keywords:

Independent Film

Cast

Jan White	...	Joan Mitchell
Raymond Laine	...	Gregg Williamson (as Ray Laine)
Ann Muffly	...	Shirley Randolph
Joedda McClain	...	Nikki Mitchell
Bill Thunhurst	...	Jack Mitchell
Neil Fisher	...	Dr. Miller
Esther Lapidus	...	Sylvia
Dan Mallinger	...	Sergeant Frazer
Daryl Montgomery	...	Larry
Ken Peters	...	John Fuller
Shirlee Strasser	...	Grace
Robert Trow	...	Detective Mills (as Bob Trow)
Jean Wechsler	...	Gloria
Charlotte Carter	...	Mary
Linda Creagan	...	Patty

Also Known As:

Jack's Wife (UK)
Season of the Witch (USA) (video title)

Runtime:

130 min | UK:104 min | USA:89 min (edited version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:R | UK:18 | USA:R | Norway:16

Filming Locations:

Forrest Hills, Pennsylvania, USA

Company:

Latent Image

Quotes:

[Joan is buying items in an antique shop]
Store Clerk: So, you're a witch?
Joan: Huh?
Store Clerk: Chalets, herbals, knifes, they're all witches tools you know.
Joan: Oh, I'm just interested in it.
Store Clerk: You're kidding! I mean, I was just kidding.
Joan: Well, I'm just interested in it.
Store Clerk: Hey, that is really great.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Dead Will Walk (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

Season of the Witch

Slow burning

This movie is often said to be slow burning. But slow burning is another way of saying boring isn't it? Yes, it is, and this movie proves it.

This movie follows the story of a bored housewife, played by Jan White that through frustration of her daughter not needing her anymore and her husband spending most of his time at work, turns to witchcraft, something this movie portrays as the ‘in thing' to do.

George Romero will always be remembered by horror fans for his Dead Trilogy, and rightly so; but he should be forgotten to have had anything to do with this. The film is overlong, a lot of its running time is spent on irrelevant things, the acting is flat and it is extremely poorly filmed. Unlike with the Dead trilogy, here Romero is unable to create the brooding atmosphere that those films had so much of, the characters in this movie are one dimensional to say the least and the movie doesn't nearly touch on the suspense and tension that the Dead Trilogy hinged on. Overall, I'm shocked that this movie came from the same man that brought one of the best horror trilogies ever made. It's so incredibly lacking that it's abominable.

It may be unfair to judge this movie against films of such a high calibre as the Dead Trilogy, but even when judged on it's own this movie isn't very good. It does feature a few nice moments, such as a fairly interesting sequence in which four of the characters discuss the implications of witchcraft, but overall this is very dull stuff indeed. Another thing that this movie doesn't have right is the predicament that Jan White finds herself in. We don't get to know her daughter, or the husband which makes it hard to see why the character has felt the need to turn to witchcraft and a lot of the movie feels hollow because of that. Had Romero developed these relationships better, it might have lifted the movie from mediocrity, but unfortunately he didn't.

There isn't much else that can be said about this movie; it lacks depth and therefore there isn't much to chew on. Overall, I recommend giving this a miss and seeing other witchcraft related films such as 'Black Sunday', 'City of the Dead' or 'Blood on Satan's Claw'. I'd even recommend 'The Craft' or 'The Crucible' before I recommend this.