Häxan (1922)

Directed by Benjamin Christensen. Starring Benjamin Christensen, Maren Pedersen, Clara Pontoppidan, Ella la Cour, Johannes Andersen, Astrid Holm, Osccar Stribolt, Wilhelmine Henriksen, Holst Jørgensen.

Innovative silent horror film combining documentary-style lectures with “reenactments”, separated into several numbered segments—some educational, some illustrative, some dramatic—examining legend, rumor, superstition and fact surrounding witchcraft throughout history. Satan (played by writer/director Christensen) tempts, seduces and terrorizes; a witch is put on trial; torture devices (and their horrific purposes) are reviewed and analyzed; “typical” witchcraft accusations are explained away by mental illness; etc. The storytelling apparatus can be cumbersome, but the imagery is often stark, eerie, even genuinely unsettling. Worthy of study by young horror filmmakers since the ghastly designs and suggestions found during several passages are more creative and crudely chilling than what’s you’re likely to find in the average spooky potboiler a century later. The edited U.S. re-release was given added narration from William S. Burroughs, and renamed Witchcraft Through the Ages, which is also used as a subtitle for the restored version.

81/100