HOUSEWIVES AND HOMICIDE | A CRIME WAVE OF WOMEN USING RAT POISON TO KILL THEIR HUSBANDS

Cinemavixion Review

Sydney, in the stark post-war years of the early fifties, became the unlikely stage for a chilling real-life drama. This documentary, 'Housewives and Homicide,' plunges into a disturbing period where a 'crime wave of women' turned to a deadly method – rat poison – to dispatch their husbands. The narrative evokes the shadowy allure of film noir, painting a portrait of the era's femme fatale as a figure not confined to the silver screen, but a tangible, lethal presence. Between 1947 and 1953, the intimate confines of marriage became a battleground, with women executing a series of calculated murders. The film explores the societal pressures and psychological undercurrents that may have fueled this unprecedented wave of domestic homicide, offering a grim, yet compelling, examination of a dark chapter in Australian history.