George Romero's "Season of the Witch" is not a misleading title and far more memorable than its original titles such as "Jack's Wife" or "Hungry Wives" (the latter could have been a Living Dead sequel). It shows the unmistakable urge for Romero to make a dramatic film about feminism and, since this was the 1970's, it makes perfect sense and it is an honorable effort.
A bored, stiff housewife, Joan (Jan White), is practically doing nothing except laying in bed. Her husband, Jack (Bill Thunhurst), wakes up early before she does and makes no effort in kissing her goodbye before heading to work. She has nightmares about her husband paying no attention to her as they go for walks in the woods where she sees a baby crawling on the ground, a woman on a swing, etc (Etcetera, etcetera is something uttered in a hallucination she has at one point). Joan also gets scratched on her forehead and her hands as she tries to push through twigs and branches while trying to approach her husband. These scenes, which contains fast cuts and odd sounds in the soundtrack, demonstrate Joan as a woman unable to cope and her willingness for something, some meaning in her life yet she feels trapped. When Joan meets with her friends, they all talk about a woman practicing witchcraft who believes in it fully as a way of life. Intrigue leads to Joan buying all the tools of the witchcraft trade and includes scenes where she pierces her skin with pins and draws spells with the hope of conjuring a demon.
Romero doesn't exactly balance all these ideas perfectly but give him credit for trying. "Season of the Witch" has a nerve-wracking pot-smoking scene with a nervous older woman that doesn't involve pot at all - a teacher puts this woman under a spell by making her believe she's ingesting something she wished she didn't (it is just a crunched up cigarette). The rest of the film has unnerving hallucinations that include a masked man outside Joan's house; Joan getting a major orgasm after hearing her daughter's moans in her bedroom; an extra-marital affair with that teacher, and some lengthy discussions about witches. One very telling scene that pretty much sets up the film is Joan having a hallucination about what her middle-class home will be like, including introductions to her social circle, her daughter, who to reach for emergencies, etc. This is the Etcetera hallucination sequence.
"Season of the Witch" is not a horror film though it contains brief woman-in-danger-inside-her-home moments that later became staples of slasher horror. It is ultimately a film about a woman trying to find an escape from her boredom. Intriguing, fascinating and, purposely, emotionally distant. A true non-horror find for Romero fans.
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