Product Description

Since its premiere in 1922, Benjamin Christensen's exploration of the role of superstition in medieval minds has caused outrage and protest from both the general public and religious groups. Dramatizing satanic activities and rituals including the ways in which suspected witches were tortured and killed, Haxan is a deliriously imaginative masterpiece. Not until its re-release in 1941 did the director earn belated fame and respect, proof that this genre-defying documentary was far ahead of its time. In 1968 the film won further praise and a whole new audience when it was re-released with a William Burroughs narration, under the title 'Witchcraft through the Ages'. This release includes both the Burroughs-narrated shorted version and the original film for which two new scores have been created, one by composer Geoff Smith performed on hammered dulcimer and the second offering a dynamic score by UK electronic group, Bronnt Industries Kapital. Special Features :

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28988 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-09-24
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 180 minutes

Synopsis
Based on real-life witchcraft trials, HAXAN combines genuine footage, animation and dramatic fiction to present traditional motifs associated with sorcery.
Also includes WITCHCRAFT THOUGH THE AGES, the 1968 re-release of HAXAN, with a narration by William S. Burroughs.

Customer Reviews

curious film but not unbiased
I think this is a really bizarre and often horribly beautiful (or beautifully horrible) movie, especially when you think it is almost a hundred years old. But don't take it too seriously as a documentary on witchcraft. The viewpoint is so clearly antireligious that it sometimes becomes ludicrous. The real creeps in this movie are not the numerous witches and devils, not even the executioners but clearly the monks and the inquisitioners. I don't want to obscure the terrible things that happened during the Early Modern Age and the Renaissance period when the witch trials sweeped through Europe (not the Middle Ages like so often wrongly stated, also in this film). But somewhere in Häxan the director says that during the centuries this folly raged in Europe, in total 8 million women men and children were executioned. According to Wiki, scholars currently rate the number of people executioned for witchcraft between 60.000 and 100.000 (which is already appaling enough). The total number of witch trials in Europe which are known for certain to have ended in executions is around 12.000. So enjoy the movie, but for the facts find more information elsewhere.

witches' brew
Part horror movie (years before that term came into use), part documentary, this has to be one of the strangest films ever made. Benjamin Christensen was a Danish actor and director who had previously made two thrillers, Det Hemmelighedsfulde X and Haevnens Nat, which both showcased his remarkable sense for lighting, framing and editing - and his adventurousness in moving beyond the established basics.
Yet, nobody could have been prepared for Haxan (Danish title: Heksen). Many of the scenes were profoundly disturbing for contemporary audiences - and may still be so today. But what strikes the modern viewer is how cinematically exciting it is all done.
The camera has yet to move (Murnau's "floating camera" is still a couple of years away), but Christensen's expert framing and editing lends every sequence an exceptional dynamic quality. When choosing a subject for the camera, angle, and size, he is invariably right, giving an incredible flow to the film as a whole. There is not a dull moment - partly because the subject is so unflinchingly handled, partly because every scene is thoroughly composed.
There is some magnificent "special effects" work using double exposure and very believable models - including a broomstick ride to Bloksbjerg and the witches' sabbath (compare the flying sequence in Murnau's Faust!)
The acting is very fine with very little of the mannerisms we associate with silent films. Some of the actors were to have long and distinguished careers in Danish film and on the stage - among them Poul Reumert, Ib Schoenberg, Elith Pio, Clara Pontoppidan.
The print used in this edition is exceptionally well-preserved, and although I usually prefer plain b/w to the tints common at the time, the warm red (at times almost sepia) and deep blue used here, look magnificent.
Regarding the soundtrack, we are spoiled for choice: there's a newly recorded arrangement of the music played at the Danish premiere (using material from well-known compositions); then there's a very effective ambient soundtrack by electronic group Bronnt Industries Kapital; finally a score composed by Geoff Smith, performed by him on the hammered dulcimer. On future viewings, I'll be listening to either Bronnt or Smith - the dulcimer score perhaps being the most interesting in the long run.
This DVD is highly recommended to anyone interested in either silent films or the horror genre or both.

A Masterpiece No Longer Forgotten
A film which would have been to audiences in 1922 (fresh from the collective hysteria of World War I) what Kubrick's "2001" was to the 60s generation-- if there had been the same desire by audiences of the time to be enlightened by the still new cinematic art after confronting the world's woes. Instead, the film was maligned, banned, protested against by thousands of nuns in the streets, championed by André Breton, and finally rediscovered by William Burroughs and his circle in the 60s. Light years ahead of its time in terms of technique (Goddard did not invent the jump cut) and sincerity. The jazz music accompanying the Burroughs version fits beautifully.