FilmWitchcraft & Occult Folk Horror Psychological

Häxan1922

Name: Häxan
Genre: Witchcraft & Occult, Folk Horror, Psychological, Gothic
Released: 1922-09-18
Rating: 7.8

“But isn’t superstition still rampant among us?”

Directed by Benjamin Christensen

7.8

Crypt Score

Blended from 3 sources

IMDb 7.6Rotten Tomatoes 93%TMDB 7.6

✍ Review

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Year

1922

Runtime

105 min

Box Office

Budget

$220,000

The premise

Grave robbing, torture, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath: Benjamin Christensen's legendary film uses a series of dramatic vignettes to explore the scientific hypothesis that the witches of the Middle Ages suffered the same hysteria as turn-of-the-century psychiatric patients. But the film itself is far from serious-- instead it's a witches' brew of the scary, gross, and darkly humorous.

Horror Vault's take

A landmark of silent cinema, Häxan blends documentary lecture with lurid dramatic re-enactment to trace witchcraft belief from medieval woodcuts to the asylum ward. Director Benjamin Christensen stages diabolical sabbaths, inquisition horrors, and demonic visions with a showman's flair that remains viscerally striking a century on. Beneath the spectacle lies a genuinely provocative argument: that the 'witches' of the Middle Ages and the hysteria patients of early psychiatry were one and the same. It is equal parts horror carnival and radical social commentary.

Content: Depictions Of Torture, Burning At The Stake, Disturbing Imagery Involving The Mentally Ill, Occult And Satanic Ritual Imagery, Silent-Era Graphic Content