DocumentaryHorrorHistory

Häxan

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.

Release Date : 1922-09-18

Language :No Language

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Aljosha Production CompanySF Studios

Production Country : Sweden

Alternative Titles : The WitchesHaxan

Cast

Character Name : Devil

Original Name : Benjamin Christensen

Gender : Male

Character Name : Karna, Sorceress

Original Name : Ella La Cour

Gender : Female

Character Name : Karna's Assistant

Original Name : Emmy Schønfeld

Gender : Female

Character Name : Old Maid

Original Name : Kate Fabian

Gender : Female

Character Name : Fat Monk

Original Name : Oscar Stribolt

Gender : Male

Character Name : Apelone, a Poor Old Woman

Original Name : Wilhelmine Henriksen

Gender : Female

Character Name : Anna's Mother

Original Name : Elisabeth Christensen

Gender : Female

Character Name : Anna

Original Name : Astrid Holm

Gender : Female

Character Name : Anna's Sister

Original Name : Karen Winther

Gender : Female

Character Name : Maria the Weaver, a Witch

Original Name : Maren Pedersen

Gender : Female

Character Name : Pater Henrik, Witch Judge

Original Name : Johannes Andersen

Gender : Male

Character Name : Johannes, Witch Judge

Original Name : Elith Pio

Gender : Male

Character Name : Witch Judge

Original Name : Aage Hertel

Gender : Male

Character Name : Witch Judge

Original Name : Ib Schønberg

Gender : Male

Character Name : Peter Titta

Original Name : Holst Jørgensen

Gender : Male

Character Name : Sister Cecilia, Nun

Original Name : Clara Pontoppidan

Gender : Female

Character Name : Flagellating Nun

Original Name : Else Vermehren

Gender : Female

Character Name : Nun

Original Name : Alice O'Fredericks

Gender : Female

Character Name : Nun

Original Name : Gerda Madsen

Gender : Female

Character Name : Nun

Original Name : Karina Bell

Gender : Female

Character Name : Modern Hysteric and Kleptomaniac

Original Name : Tora Teje

Gender : Female

Character Name : Jeweler

Original Name : Poul Reumert

Gender : Male

Character Name : Jeweler's Assistant

Original Name : H.C. Nielsen

Gender : Male

Character Name : Psychiatrist

Original Name : Albrecht Schmidt

Gender : Male

Character Name : Anatomist

Original Name : Knud Rassow

Gender : Male

Character Name : Maid

Original Name : Ellen Rassow

Gender : Female

Character Name : Citizen

Original Name : Frederik Christensen

Gender : Male

Character Name : Citizen

Original Name : Henry Seemann

Gender : Male

Character Name : Unidentified

Original Name : Karen Caspersen

Gender : Female

Character Name : Unidentified

Original Name : Holger Pedersen

Gender : Male

Character Name : Chief Inquisitor

Original Name : John Andersen

Gender : Male

Reviews

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2024-12-31

Next time you look around and wonder where all the sparrows have gone, just be thankful you didn't live in a time where their bodies were pulverised to make a potion to ward off evil spirits! That's just one of the examples cited in this interestingly whacky look at all things devilish and malevolent. It's not the most rational of tours of the witching sorority, but it does by the end of the sixth chapter converge on quite a potent evaluation of the absurd, the terrifying, the superstitious and the religious and quite successfully demonstrates the plethora of overlapping philosophies, manipulative strategies and just plain scaredy-catness of mankind's behaviour when faced with things unknown and unpredictable. The rudimentary augmentation of human bodies with wings, horns, hooves - all illustrated here using quite an entertaining mixture of what looks like ancient scripture, coupled with some silent film footage and plenty of plasticine shows it wasn't just the uneducated classes who bought into all of this mysticism. It's accompanied by some quite pithy and informative, discursive even, inter-titles that try to balance between the silly and the serious and some of the characterisations are genuinely quite thought-provoking, especially as the church was often a prime mover in causing and/or dealing with the consequences of these fevered and violent old wives' tales. I can't say I could make sense of all of it, but I think that might have been auteur Benjamin Christansen's point as he opens a Pandora's Box and let's us do the heavy sifting. One man's witch is another man's nun!