Villian(s)  Witch

Actor(s):  Jan White, Raymond Laine, Joedda McClain, Bill Thunhurst

Brief Description  Season of the Witch (1972), originally filmed as Jack's Wife and also released under the exploitative title Hungry Wives, is a psychological horror-drama written, directed, shot, and edited by genre master George A. Romero. Moving away from the visceral zombie gore of his debut, Night of the Living Dead (1968), Romero crafted an intimate, psychedelic character study. He described it as a "feminist film" exploring middle-aged domestic isolation, societal gender norms, and the Women's Liberation movement of the era.

Plot:
The film opens with a surreal, Freudian dream sequence where Joan Mitchell (Jan White), a suburban Pittsburgh housewife approaching forty, is led through the woods on a dog leash by her husband, Jack. In the dream, she confronts a decaying, older version of herself. In reality, her life is deeply unfulfilling: Jack is a boorish, frequently absent businessman who physically and emotionally abuses her, and her 19-year-old daughter, Nikki, is distant and preparing to move out. Desperate for a sense of agency, Joan and her friend Shirley visit Marion, a local woman rumored to practice Wicca. After a tarot card reading, Joan becomes captivated by the empowerment offered by witchcraft. Simultaneously, she is drawn to Gregg Williamson (Raymond Laine), an arrogant, younger university professor who is dating her daughter.

Joan begins buying occult texts and spell ingredients, culminating in a ritual set to Donovan’s iconic song "Season of the Witch". She performs a spell to hex Gregg into desiring her, leading to an illicit, reality-blurring affair. As her reliance on spellcraft grows, her mental state fractures, and she suffers from terrifying nightmares of a masked intruder invading her home. Strung out on isolation and paranoia, Joan mistakes her husband, Jack, for the demonic intruder from her nightmares when he returns home unexpectedly one night. She shoots and kills him. Instead of facing standard legal consequences, Joan completely discards her old identity. She is absorbed into Marion’s coven, finding her ultimate "liberation" and a twisted sense of belonging by officially becoming a witch.