Häxan

Häxan (or Witchcraft Through The Ages) is a silent documentary from Sweden that juxtaposes the perceptions of witches in the Middle Ages with the views of the "modern world" of 1922. At the core of Danish director Benjamin Christensen's narrative is a refreshingly skeptical point of view, from which the filmmaker suggests psychologically plausible explanations for the demonic visions and actions of supposed witches and those tormented by devils.

Beginning with a look at witchcraft and the Devil in the art of ancient and Medieval cultures (including a statue of the Assyrian demon Pazuzu that will be familiar to any fan of The Exorcist), Haxan informs us that the imagery of the demonic has permeated all of the "naive" and primitive cultures of the world for the entire history of mankind.

After the art history lesson comes the heart of the film: the dramatic depiction of witchcraft in the time of the Inquisition. The first vignette shows us the lives of self-proclaimed witches and the sad souls who seek their potions and spells. Then we see a typical Inquisition scenario in which an old woman is accused of witchcraft, tortured into a manufactured confession of her evil deeds, and subsequently levies accusations against the people in town who have wronged her. The cycle goes on until the village is scoured of witches and the judges of the Inquisition move on to the next town.

Finally, Christensen show us his hypothesis of the true causes of so-called demonic behaviors, playing the actions of the bewitched against scenes of modern psychological disorders such as kleptomania and somnambulism, which he lumps together under the term "hysteria." In this way, Christensen endeavors to teach the audience to put aside the superstitions of the "naive" past and try to solve real psychological problems with real-world treatments.

So, Häxan is a documentary, but is it a horror movie? Yes, yes it is. While the film as a whole may not be particularly scary to today's audience, it can certainly be unnerving.

The costumes are fantastic in all senses of the word: a terrifying Satan (played by the director), creepy imps, pig-men walking upright, a skeletal horse, and all manner of other grotesquery. Guillermo del Toro would be proud of the creature designs and effects.

The blasphemous imagery of the Witches' Sabbath scenes is shocking, particularly considering when Häxan was made. Demons drain blood from a baby into a brew the revelers drink, an old witch gives birth to man-sized demons, and witches literally kiss the Devil's behind to show their loyalty. Häxan is brimming with depraved acts we wouldn't think anyone would have put into a film in the 1920s, and all is depicted with a surreal weirdness that somehow makes it seem more real than the lifelike effects in modern movies.

Häxan came to the screen in the same year as F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu, which was three years before The Phantom Of The Opera and nine years before Dracula or Frankenstein. This places Häxan among the foundations of cinematic horror. Unlike these other movies, Häxan tackles not literary monsters familiar to all as fiction, but evils that are considered all too real by much of the world. It portrays these horrors unflinchingly, while warning against letting superstition lead again to the kind of madness that shook Europe during the Inquisition.

If you're interested in one of the most fascinating horror movies of the silent era or simply want some freaky visuals to play on the tv in the background of your Halloween party, look no further than Häxan.