Being Film #19 for Hooptober 2023
How about a very short review for something that isn’t necessarily horror, but utilizes horror imagery in a way that would be imitated for decades? Häxan is a silent essay film on the history of witchcraft and devil worship written and directed by Benjamin Christensen, who uses a variety of techniques and images to put forth the question that these witch hunts and interpretations stem from a fundamental misunderstanding of mental health issues. It’s fascinating, and at the same time a visual delight as Christensen knows the best way to engage his audience is by thrilling them.
THE QUICK SUMMARY: Beginning with art and illustrations, we move through the history of witches, devils, and the ensuing madness those legends bring. What starts scholarly soon turns to horror as this narrative essay brings to life those very same devils and witches to illustrate the point of how what we don’t understand can quickly turn to hysteria and madness.
If Häxan sounds dry, let me assure it isn’t. Christensen was first and foremost an entertainer, and he gets positively gleeful with some of the sequences in the film. The great use of color tinting is one distinguishing feature of the film, but the real joy comes in Christensen’s depictions of the creatures and devils and ceremonies to bring to life the pages he displays in the film’s first segment. Modern horror fans are going to see Pazuzu years before that entity’s presence in The Exorcist. You’re going to see Satan in many forms tempting women and holding forth during watches sabbaths. There’s one scene where something creeps up on a sleeping woman, and I have no idea what it is, but it was freaky.
This is one where I’d ask you to go in open and give it a chance. Denmark in the 20s seems liberated and crazy in a great way, and Häxan feels more modern than many films coming out almost 100 years later.
Cinema Dual 
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