11/19/2022 0 Comments Witchcraft through the ages![]() Nocturnal witches' sabbaths, meals made of toads and children, and other unsavory elements are depicted for the viewer's edification before a truly bizarre finale which makes analogies between witchcraft and modern day technology.Ī difficult film to describe, Häxan flows along like a waking dream. Witch hunting is depicted in an unflattering light not unlike Carl Dreyer's later Day of Wrath, and even Satan himself makes a cameo with the director made up in an elaborate, terrifying facsimile of a woodcut monster. Through a series of vignettes we see the interaction of clergy and witches, with the priests either persecuting their satantic foes, suffering from the onslaught of demonic forces, or even complying with the supernatural agents. Ostensibly beginning as a documentary, Häxan begins with woodcuts and period recreations to depict the rise of witchcraft in medieval times, where demons were said to roam the land and interfere with the lives of peasants. Like most silent films, this cheeky, horrific look at witchcraft as a form of mania has endured in various forms over the years, though fortunately no amount of tinkering can dilute its peculiar power. Burroughs narration and an experimental, jazz-influenced score. Those who think horror films before the 1960s were stodgy, lightweight affairs should be quickly directed to Benjamin Christensen's jaw-dropping Häxan, later reissued as Witchcraft through the Ages in 1967 with William S. #WITCHCRAFT THROUGH THE AGES FULL#Directed by Benjamin Christensen / Starring Astrid Holm, Karen Winther, Ella La Cour, Oscar Stribolt, Elith Pio / Cinematography by Johan Ankerstjerneįormat: DVD - Criterion (MSRP $39.95) / Full Frame / Dolby Digital 5.0 ![]()
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