Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages
1922 (1968 re-release), NR, 74 min.
Directed by Benjamin Christensen, Starring Maren Pedersen, Clara Pontoppidan, Elith Pio, Oscar Stribolt, Tora Teje, John Andersen, Benjamin Christensen.

There’s no other way to describe this Danish feature from the Silent Era: It’s extremely weird and mind-twisting. Strange images and set-pieces adorn this early horror film in which the director also stars as the Devil. Filmed like those old skin flicks that had a doctor or scientist introduce and/or narrate the film “study” in order to prove that the movie had redeeming social value, Häxan is structured like an informative documentary about witchcraft. The 1968 re-release of the movie included a narration by William Burroughs. Peter Stopchinski will perform an original score.

This article appears in October 10 • 2003.

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