Whether he likes it or not, George A. Romero will always be associated with the horror genre. This typecasting is something the director of the “Dead” saga has had to endure his entire career, and for the most part, he seems pretty happy being known as a master of horror. But this wasn’t always the case, and There’s Always Vanilla and Season of the Witch act as indicators that he did try to branch out at one time. Both of these films, along with The Crazies, were made in succession immediately after the amazing success of Night of the Living Dead. Now, nearly 40 years later and riding on the success of his recently released Land of the Dead, Anchor Bay has released these two forgotten Romero films on DVD. Both films have points of interest, but don’t expect the wall-to-wall gore of Dawn of the Dead. What you will see is an interesting journey into the land of “Could Have Been.”

Season of the Witch is quite possibly the most notorious of Romero’s ‘lost’ films since it still has its hands within reach of horror conventions. While it doesn’t have a single zombie, it deals with a far scarier group who happen to be just as mindless – women’s libbers. [drum roll here]

The story starts off with an incredibly avant-garde dream sequence of our heroine, Joan (Jan White), being ignored by her husband, yet being leashed by him at the same time. Aside from these recurring dreams, Joan is outwardly your standard stay-at-home wife who has suffered through a miscarriage and a daughter who has long outgrown the need for constant parenting. She has nothing to keep herself occupied. But two important events happen to Joan that change this situation. First, one of her friends introduces her to a witch – a true, practicing witch. This intrigues Joan and she develops a minor obsession with it. That same day, Joan’s daughter, Nikki, introduces her to a Russell Crowe look-alike she met at college named Gregg (Ray Laine). Joan is lonely, and Gregg likes older women. Since you are obviously an intelligent reader, I’m sure you don’t need a dictionary to spell out what happens next.

Without knowing what the hell she is doing, Joan decides to invoke a spirit to get Gregg to sleep with her. She starts to believe she has witch powers and can do just about anything. She starts to have even worse dreams than before, dreams in which she is being hunted by the spirit.

It’s all pretty convoluted from this point on. Even the ending is pretty ambiguous. But therein lies the interest, and a comparison to another Romero film, Martin. The protagonist of Martin is a man who believes he is a vampire. Here, Joan believes herself to be a witch. In both films it is more likely than not that most of the events are happening in their minds; that they have become detached from reality. But while it makes things more interesting when you approach these movies from a psychological viewpoint, it doesn’t help Season of the Witch move at anything close to a reasonable pace. The first third of the film is a drag. Only the dream sequences convey emotion.

That said, while this is a step back from Night of the Living Dead, it does deserve to be commended for accuracy. I have studied witchcraft for several years now, and have even attended several Wicca ceremonies. While the actual items, conjurations, and ceremonies depicted here are sadly underdeveloped, they do present some of the most authentic filmed uses I have seen. Her entry to the coven near the end of the film is particularly memorable for being accurate, so some of the lesser inaccuracies, such as Joan not cleansing or sanctifying her home or room, are forgivable. It’s obvious that Romero did his research.

Season of the Witch is an interesting film, but not a very good one.

This brings us to There’s Always Vanilla, an interesting oddity on Romero’s resume because it is completely unlike anything else the man has ever done. He didn’t write it, so it isn’t “his” movie in the way of other Romero films, yet it consists almost entirely of cast members from Night of the Living Dead, so it's fun to see many of those actors in the only other film they ever made.

The story revolves around a young man named Chris Bradley (played by Ray Laine) who recently returned home from Vietnam. He’s drifting, making friends with strippers and people who can get him weed. His father is a successful manufacturer of baby food, and while they care deeply for each other, Chris can’t bring himself to work for him.

Soon he meets Lynn (the gorgeous Judith Ridley), who is working as a model/actress in commercials. After a meet-cute the film follows how their relationship falls apart after she becomes pregnant.

I realize Vanilla sounds pretty uninteresting on paper. In all reality though, it's a really good film. It reminded me of American guerrilla filmmaking inspired by the French and Italian films of the time, but above all it made me think of Brian De Palma’s debut film Greetings. Both are rooted in the Vietnam reality that the ‘60s and ‘70s suffered from, but retain a very idealistic and free feel. It’s very much inspired by Fellini and Godard – quite a surprise to see such sensibilities come from Romero. Then again, he all but disowns the film, and maybe this is part of the reason. Regardless, I actually think this film is better made and more entertaining than the main attraction.

Presentation
Season of the Witch – To put it bluntly, it sucks. Despite what the packaging indicates, it is not presented in anamorphic widescreen (it is widescreen however) and the print is god-awful. At least with the transfer Anchor Bay has the decency to warn you about it with a disclaimer beforehand. The movie is old, and it’s low-budget, and it has been lost and found several times over. This is the longest version available, and while watchable, it is painful to see. The audio drops and in certain sequences it is difficult to discern what some characters are saying. Subtitles would be useful, but this is Anchor Bay, so no damn subtitles for you. I would think after releasing DVDs for nearly eight years they would start including this basic feature. Guess not. I think that it is safe to say that this is the best presentation of Season of the Witch released so far though ... so I guess we should be grateful for that.

Nahh, fuck being grateful – Anchor Bay, where’s the effort?

There’s Always Vanilla – Interestingly enough, for a film that hasn’t been released on DVD, this looks really good. Not great mind you, but when you compare it to the main feature, it looks amazing. The audio fares surprisingly well also. It certainly is easy to understand. Perhaps the first film lowered my expectations, but except that the film is not anamorphic I have no complaints. Five minutes of footage from There’s Always Vanilla was previously included as a bonus feature on Elite’s special edition of Night of the Living Dead and it is certainly an improvement over that.

And The Extras Are?
There are extra features for both movies on their corresponding sides.

Season of the Witch:
Season of the Witch: The Secret Life of Jack’s Wife – (17:14) - This is a rather interesting interview with lead actress Jan White, who goes into detail about the production, her lackluster career and the poor marketing of the film. It’s amusing to hear how Jan thought she was being lured in to making a porno. I have to say, I liked this because it was pretty frank and to the point.

The Directors: The Films of George A. Romero – (58:28) - This is a part of a series released on DVD that highlights the careers of various directors. Like most of the episodes I have seen, they manage to make even the most popular directors’ histories terribly droll and boring. This, sadly, is no exception. But if you want a by-the-numbers collection of sound bites from talking heads about Romero’s films, this is for you – just don’t expect anything more.

Season of the Witch trailer – (1:45), Hungry Wives trailer – (1:29) - These two trailers show perfectly Jan White’s comments about the film's poor marketing. The Hungry Wives trailer rather dubiously shows the film as a picture about women doing lurid things while their husbands are at work. The Season trailer is a better produced piece showcasing some of the more visual aspects of the movie. It’s interesting to watch these back to back.

Hungry Wives credit sequence – (3:35), Jack’s Wife credit sequence – (3:31) - The Hungry Wives intro is as it was theatrically released. Not vastly different than that presented in the film. The Jack’s Wife intro is more of the same. This time the title screen has a cute animation. There is no difference to what was filmed though; just the credits are arranged differently.

Poster & Still Gallery – A collection of 67 images. These are mostly stills but some promotional ads and marketing tools are included.

“Also on DVD” trailer gallery – Includes trailers for The Evil Dead, All Souls Day, It Waits and Demon Hunter, which looks like the next great bad movie. Watch out for it.

There’s Always Vanilla:
Digging Up the Dead: The ‘Lost’ Films of George A. Romero– (15:54) - Romero on TAV: “I have to tell you this, whether you put this on camera or not. It was an awful experience, I have very little recollection of what went on during the production of that film, and I care very little about it.” All interviews should be so revealing. This covers both movies on this disc and Romero is quite honest about both of them. There’s great stuff here. Along with the Jan White interview it makes for the best feature on this disc.

There’s Always Vanilla trailer – (1:44) It does a good job of showing some skin and does nothing else to market the film in any interesting way.

George A. Romero Bio – A 26-page text feature which pretty much sums up his career. Nothing out of the ordinary and not really worth your time, unless you are THAT interested, in which case you probably already know all this stuff anyway.

Overall, there is a solid collection of extras here, and most of it is worth watching. The Elite DVD of Night of the Living Dead had a series of stills and promotional material for There’s Always Vanilla. I am a bit surprised it wasn’t included here, but you really aren’t missing much.

And Now Some Parting Words
There are some completely inexcusable issues with this DVD, most notably the fact that the quality of Season of the Witch is goddamn poor and the misleading packaging claiming that both titles are anamorphic when they really aren’t. I know it's hard to work with old film, but I know the people at Anchor Bay have done more with less plenty of times. Anyone who has seen their original release of Halloween and compared it with either the limited edition or the Divimax version can tell you how far Anchor Bay has come in the remastering department. While these films may be under the radar, that doesn’t excuse them from releasing such a rushed product.

On the plus side though, there is material here that has enormous value. Most of the extras are worth watching, There’s Always Vanilla is far better than I expected it to be, and better than Romero gives it credit for. Fans of the director or chroniclers of Pittsburgh’s cinema scene, this is a release that shouldn’t be missed.

Sadly, I don’t see anyone outside of a tiny niche being even remotely interested.