just watch it!

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

In the years between his legendary "Night of the Living Dead" and his outbreak thriller "The Crazies", filmmaker George A. Romero was actually trying NOT to get pigeonholed as a horror director. This is one of his efforts from that era. It's not for hardcore horror fans; other than a few nightmare sequences, it barely flirts with that genre. It's more of a sometimes arty, sometimes exploitative drama about a suburban housewife named Joan Mitchell (Jan White). Rather dissatisfied with her lot in life, she begins to think about things such as extramarital sex, and the idea of dabbling in the occult.The performances are better than one might expect for such an independent, regional production. Romero uses his script as a set-up for exploring themes such as self esteem & self expression, female oppression, and the generation gap. For a while, it's likely to cause some audience members to be regularly checking their watches, as it rambles on at too deliberate a pace. It begins to maintain interest more consistently after the one hour mark. Regarding its artistic ambitions, Romero does seem to be enjoying himself coming up with those dream sequences. And in terms of exploitative elements, there is nudity both female and male, but never very much violence or gore."Hungry Wives" is fairly serious, but not totally without humor. Fans of the directors' output may want to see it for completions' sake, but it's not going to be for every taste.Six out of 10.

George Romero's first film after the cult success of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is a big disappointment for his fans, and proves that Romero should stick to what he does best, i.e. make zombie films for the masses. It starts off so well, too, with a hallucinogenic trip through a woods complete with time-loops, crawling babies, and all manner of oddities. Sadly, from here it quickly goes downhill and descends into some kind of human drama which lacks both the spark of interest and any kind of incident whatsoever.Now I'm not condemning all slow-moving films - last night I watched UNBREAKABLE, and loved it - but the pacing here is almost non-existent, which I find criminal. After the initial introduction to our characters, basically nothing happens until the end. Sure, there are a couple of arguments and some sex and drugs, but what I'm talking about is horror content. The only horror comes from the weird dreams that the housewife has, which are commendably surreal but are also quite pointless. The avenue of witchcraft isn't even fully explored, instead the effects it has on a person as a release rather than the supernatural horror that is associated with it.The lack of gore and violence - there's a single scene of it, at the end - is another factor that will dwell unfavourably on fans of the Dead trilogy, complete with its stark cannibalism. While Romero's use of sound is admittedly atmospheric, it can't compensate for the silly dialogue, obnoxious characters, and lack of suspense and thrills. This feels more like a family drama, with characters having affairs and the like.The acting looks and feels amateurish in nature; Jan White is okay as the lead I suppose, but her character is irritating in the extreme. In fact all of the characters in this film are either selfish or unlikeable, making it very difficult to sit through indeed. Fans of human drama might like this one, but I can't find it in myself to recommend it to anybody except the most die-hard of completists.

3 stars for humour (although totally unintended). If you want a cheesy 70's witchcraft B-movie just for some cheap laughs at the wigs and swinging lingo, then by all means, enjoy! The overall idea of this film was pretty good, but it failed to meet the mark. The story seems lost, trying to get itself on track, but frequently gets diverted on a psychedelic trip of misdirection.Bored and disillusioned housewives, alcoholism, the occult, female self-empowerment, the 1970's sexual revolution, bizarre dream sequences... This story is trying to be about so much, and ends up being a jumbled mess. Romero, whatever you were trying to say here, it's totally lost in cinematic translation.I also found this film to be strikingly dated. The "hip" script comes off as silly. Unlike Romero's previous films, this dialouge seems unusually forced and artificial.Anti-climatic. Poorly edited. Corny costumes and effects. Silly dialouge. Meandering and floundering plot. Annoying electronic soundtrack. Lack-luster acting. Cheap film, trying to be artistic, but ends up poorly made, desperate and lost in itself. I had a few laughs, but I wouldn't want to watch it again.Note: For anyone who is a witch, it's likely that this movie won't be as offensive as most "witchcraft" movies tend to be, as it does treat the subject with more sensitivity and accuracy than I had expected.

Excellent! Before Romero got too famous for his Zombies, he gave us this little gem.This was a great find. Good story, great characters, good scares.You also had hippies, drugs, swinger types, and gaudy 70's decor.The best scenes were the recurring nightmares of the prowler trying to break into her house. Every time she had this nightmare it went further. Seeing the shadow go to the side of the house and cut the phone line while she was trying to call for help was CRE-EPY.And did anyone notice there was no music on the soundtrack during these scenes? All you heard was breathing and her voice when she tried to use the phone.One of the scariest scenes of the 70's, and that's going some.This deserves to be as well known as Romero's 'Dead' trilogy. Or at least 'Martin.' See this again.