04 December 2024
Häxan (1922)
93 min.
Directed by Benjamin Christensen.
With Elisabeth Christensen, Astrid Holm, Karen Winther, Maren Pedersen, Ella La Cour, Emmy Schönfeld, Kate Fabian, Oscar Stribolt.
An interesting Danish silent horror film.

A journey of "witchcraft through the ages," this uses dramatic recreations to show devil-possessed nuns, grave robbing and inquisition torture.

Suggests the possibility that Middle Age witches were (by and large) exhibiting what we now know as modern psychiatric 'hysterias.'

Nonetheless, it's an entertaining historical piece that manages at times a genuinely surreal atmosphere with a few terrifyingly odd moments.

A 1968 version features new orchestration and an introduction by William S. Burroughs.

Worth a look.

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