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By: Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
Date: 21st Jul 08
Format: Festival
Mood: Nostalgic
What:
MIFF - Jack's Wife (1973)
When:
Tues Aug 5, 9:15pm
Where:
MIFF at ACMI Cinemas
Book tickets:
Here
Win:
We have 3 dbl passes to give away! To enter, email win@threethousand.com.au with the subject line 'ideological jackhammering'
From the moment they first shuffled across the grainy screen of Night of the Living Dead, zombies became synonymous with George Romero. Since he injected new monstrosity into a feared favourite, the excitement surrounding his zombie films is so frenzied that it's easy to forget he made anything else.
This year MIFF pays suitable homage to both Romero's zombie output and his adventures outside the domain of slow-moving brain eaters - and offers the rare opportunity to see Jack's Wife uncut and on the big screen. Alternatively titled Season of the Witch (Halloween III fans take note), it follows a bored suburban housewife and her introduction to witchcraft. Parallels to the zeitgeist-defining feminist movement of the sixties and seventies aren't exactly oblique, and, like the similarly themed Invasion of the Bee Girls and The Stepford Wives, it wears its political agenda on its sleeve.
This dark, weird film shows a different George Romero than his showy zombie glitz, but don't be afraid - there are still popcorn thrills aplenty amongst the ideological jackhammering. One screening only, so get shuffling.