I recently rediscovered an obscure movie by George Romero, "Season of the Witch" which I vaguely remember from my childhood. It must have been on television at one time because I distinctly remember many of the scenes yet, being only a toddler at the time, had no idea what the movie was about. My mother converted to Penecostal Chrisitianity in the mid 70's and, for the first five years of my young life, I was allowed to be exposed to things that my mother would later consider problematic. I can't say that this film by Romero was my first exposure to Witchcraft, but I can't deny that it did influence a desire in me to discover the truth about the Occult. It's one of those films that I remember seeing yet can't couldn't quite remember when I saw it or why the images from the film stayed in my mind for so long nor why it took me so long to finally see this movie again as an adult.  But then, after doing some research online, I found out that the film was released under several different titles, "Hungry Wives" being one of them.  It's considered a bad film by many Romero fans who love his zombie films, probably because they expected it to be a horror film featuring a stereotypical Hollywood witch movie where women curse people in the name of Satan or fling magic missles at one another ala "Charmed."

I picked up "Season of the Witch" at Best Buy over the weekend. Being a fan of Romero's zombie flicks, I couldn't resist the urge to discover a film he wrote and directed that had something to do with Witchcraft! I gritted my teeth a little, hoping that he would treat the subject truthfully and, to tell the truth, I was expecting it to be a horror movie. Truth told, it's not a horror movie and, to the sound of my own jaw dropping, "Season of the Witch" is about a neglected housewife who finds meaning in her life by secretly practicing Witchcraft. Although she is afraid at first, she soon finds empowerment through the Craft. I believe it's the first time I've ever seen a movie where Witchcraft is not included in a film as something supernatural; Romero writes it as something a means a woman goes to that is emotionally powerful for her because it helps her to free herself from the oppression of an stifling, unspiritual life as a suburban housewife. 

My only complaint about the film is the scene where our main character, Joan, begins to write The Lord's Prayer backwards; an act of rebellion perhaps, but one that suggests that Witchcraft is Satanic and it was probably put in the film to please studio executives who wanted Romero to make the Witchcraft-related scenes sensational.  It's the only part in the film that makes such a suggestion, yet the image is powerful in the sense that, even though she is doing this in secret while her husband is in the next room, you can see that she is turning her back on things that have long kept her in place.  Traditional religion no longer liberates this woman.  She is daring herself to step beyond her normal reality and into something dark and forbidden.  She even talks a lover into participating in a conjuration of a spirit who shows up as a cute little black and white cat while they furiously make love.  Again, this scene treats the act of ceremonial magic as one that we suspect will be scary or evil, but turns out to be loving and playful.

The best scene is Joan going to a local antiques store to buy her Witch's tools.  Shot in 1972, Joan is all decked out in clothes of the period, sporting large dark sunglasses, a black poncho, and big, gaudy jewelery that would be fashionable even now.  The way she looks takes me back to when I was a kid and makes me feel at home -- like I could go back in time -- the scene is made even more attractive accompanied by Donovan's song "Season of the Witch" which also happens to be a favorite of mine.  You can't listen to that song and not think of spooky films of the late '60s.  When Joan steps up to the checkout counter, arms full of silver and pewter items that I wish I could find at my local antiques store, she's greeted by a geeky guy who makes an interestingly blatant assumption:

Clerk: "So, you're a witch."

Joan:  "Huh?  Oh, um..."

Clerk: "Chalets, herbals, knifes, they're all witches tools you know..."

Joan:  "Oh, I'm just interested in it."

Clerk:  "You're kidding! I mean, I was just kidding."

Such confrontations still happen today when Witches go shopping, except in the small town I live in I get more stares that ask questions than people actually asking questions!  In fact, I ran into one of my acquaintences from high school recently who made the assumption just based on the fact that I wear a little silver six-legged wingless dragon pin on my jacket collar.  It's amazing what assumptions people make based on what you wear.  Most of the time I don't have to wear a pentagram to get attention.  Some people just know how to pick a Witch!  And I wasn't even Wiccan during my high school years...

Back to the movie.  My next favorite scene is Joan's initiation as a Witch juxaposed with Joan accidentally shooting her husband when he comes back early from a business trip.  After having intense visions where she's being attacked by a prowler, she's near hysterical when her hubby comes home without his keys and attempts to break into his own house to get in.  The house is dark and he doesn't know Joan is in.  Getting the courage to defend herself, Joan grabs his hunting rifle and shoots him.  As police and paramedics come on the scene, the death is written off as an accident.  Next we see Joan take her holy vows as a new Witch, now freed from the marriage that kept her powerless.

In the last scene, Joan is at a party with all women.  Unlike the parties we see her attend earlier in the film, at this one she seems happier, as well as more confident, but as the camera zeroes in on her mesmerizing green eyes, she is slightly haunted by what she did to her husband.  I loved how it ended like that.  I've read reviews of this film where critics say that Romero wrote this story without a plot, that it's just a twisted jumble of dream sequences.  I don't know where they got that conclusion from.  The dream sequences, albeit somewhat avant garde, relate beautifully to the story and wouldn't be the same without them.  Some of the actors in the film could have been better trained, but the star, Jan White, is so captivating as the lead.  You also have to be a little forgiving towards the film because it's a tad old film school kind of stuff and some of the dialogue is quite dated, yet that's what also makes it endearing, too.

On the dvd, Romero is interviewed and he talks about how this film is one with subject material he'd like to return to.  I hope he does and continues to forsake the Hollywood system.  I'm thinking of writing him a letter, thanking him for portraying real life Witchcraft and not some overly produced magical fantasy.  We need more films that portray Witchcraft and Wicca as it truly is; a religious, magical practice many women turn to today to empower themselves.

Here's a list of other great Witchy or Pagan friendly themed movies:

1.  THE WICKER MAN (1973)
Probably the one film most likely to scare off your Christian friends because of it's pro Pagan themes, The Wicker Man is still one of those horror movies that accurately depicts fertility rituals, practices, and beliefs while still being scary. The story revolves around Howie, a devout Christian policeman searching for a missing girl on a mysterious Scottish island peopled by devout Pagans! Unwittingly, he is led on a dummy search for the girl, only to find out that she was never really missing at all and that he's about to be burnt as a sacrifice to a Sun God in the hopes that the island's residents will have a better crop of food the following year. The movie plays a "what if?" scenario if people adopted once again the ancient custom of human sacrifice. The original 1973 release is worthwhile viewing, whether you're Pagan or not, just to see Christopher Lee (Lord Summerisle) in top form and Britt Ekland plays a very hot seductress who almost lures poor Howie (played brilliantly by Edward Woodward) into bed. The only drawback of this film is the sometimes hilarious and annoying use of folk music that would make anyone think twice about dirty hippies.  There's to be a remake of this film out soon starring  Nicolas Cage as a reclusive sheriff who goes to search for his astranged daughter after she mysteriously disappears on a secluded island. When he arrives, he senses something more is amiss among the island's secretive residents as he starts to uncover a mystery involving strange sexual rituals, a harvest festival and possible human sacrifice.  This remake promises to really suck.  Rumors abound that it portrays women who practice Goddess religions as ruthless man-haters and that the island has no men on it because of it.  I suggest checking out the original and ignore the new release coming out later this year.  If it really pisses me off, you'll read about it here.

2.  HARRY POTTER

Just about every Pagan loves (or gets annoyed by) the Harry Potter books and movies.  Sure there's a lot of badly spoken Latin phrases and some of the magic is just pure fable, this fictional tale of a boy attending a school for magic makes us all wish there were Hogwarts' all over the globe for real Witches!  Harry Potter is the kid all adults would like to adopt and is the Wizard all kids wish they could be.  I know, it's kinda sick, but these films really rock and the books are just as addictive.

3.  THE LORD OF THE RINGS (2001-4)

You might not consider it a very "witchy" series of films, but Gandalf is loved by real witches everywhere and much of the values depicted in the story relate to the spirituality of Paganism.  In fact, it's pretty hard not to find a Pagan these days who hasn't read the books or watched the films.  Long before Peter Jackson's take on the epic saga, I had the old posters decorating my room.  LOTR has always been considered a pro-hippy kind of magical fantasy complete with related merchandise such as bongs and incense burners shaped like Gandalf accompanied by elves and hobbits.  I'm glad it's cool again to like LOTR.  I recently watched RINGERS: LORD OF THE FANS and it made me realize that I'm very normal (unlike the hordes of fans out there who go a little bit too far in their love for the series -- let's just say you won't find me dressed up as Treebeard at any festivals soon). 

4.  PRACTICAL MAGIC (1998)
I can't deny the power of this little gem of a film based on the book by Alice Hoffman. Like the book, it depicts Witches in a very favorable light but once again we have a film whose makers can't resist putting in the special effects of Hollywood magic. Not that many of us complain that much about it, we just wish we could cast spells where we could stir our own coffee or make petals fly in ribbons into the sky. It's a movie that most women love and is definitely a witchy chic flick complete with Stevie Nicks singing on the soundtrack. The story is about the Owens women who, for the past 200 years, have been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong in their small town. It all began with their ancestor, Maria, who was suspected of being a witch and was almost hanged for the offense, but she manages to free herself and passes on her magical talents to her daughters. Yet poor Maria, after suffering a love affair that ended badly, curses herself and her descendents into having relationships that end tragically. In order to avoid the family curse, Sally (played by Sandra Bullock) decides to never fall in love, but of course she does and, just like her relatives before her, her husband dies in a tragic accident and she's left to bring up her daughters alone. Sally's daughters are the spitting image of herself and her sister Gillian (played by Nicole Kidman) and the two delight into getting into all sorts of magical mischief. The story, however, takes a left turn when Sally accidentally kills her sister's abusive boyfriend and they try to raise him up from the dead. They succeed but the guy comes back as a restless ghost who torments Gillian and Sally. The guilt of their actions drives Sally and Gillian apart, and Sally leaves to confess to Officer Hallett (whom she has fallen in love with). While she is away, Gillian is spiritually possessed by her undead ex-boyfriend and it is left to Sally, their Aunts, and a coven of townswomen to banish the invading soul back into the grave. Somehow through all this, the family curse is broken and the Owens family is now beloved by the entire town. Yay, right?

5.  THE CRAFT (1996)

This is a guilty pleasure for most real Witches; you can watch it and play a drinking game to all the bad ceremonial magic references!  A lot of teens love this movie and you can see why, it has all the elements of the spooky, power-over-others kind of magic that makes any girl want to create a coven of her own.  The best thing I can say about this movie is that it does accurately portray the rebellious baggage that young women often come to the Wiccan religion with.  However, the main danger of this film is that some kids expect much of this fiction to be real.  Often they leave Witchcraft after they find out that it's a real religion and not something they can use to get back at people who disenfrancise them.  Fairuza Balk steals the show as the “bad little witch” who succumbs to insanity at the end of the film -- a cautionary tale about the dangers of using magic to harm others.

 
6.  BELL, BOOK, AND CANDLE (1958)

Even though it's not a very accurate and mostly fantasical portrayal of witches, this film is still very cute.  A modern-day witch likes her neighbor but despises his fiancee, so she enchants him to love her instead... only to fall in love with him for real.  Once she falls in love with him, she loses her powers!  How fucked up is that?  This is the film that inspired the creation of the televison show "Bewitched."

Other witch films I find annoying because it's just propaganda filled with negative images of old women out to kill little kids or over-sexed women out for revenge.  After looking at this list, I realize that we have yet to really have a great Witch film!  Maybe someday...  if not, I'll bloody well write a screenplay or two myself, by Gods!