Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages
Danish Director Benjamin Christensen's Cult Classic Horror Film
Sep 24, 2008
As the title suggests Christensen’s film concerns the history of witchcraft to the present day – or at least present to when the film was made. Were this a simple narrative or a lecture style documentary the film may well have passed into neglect but Christensen fills the screen instead with astonishing realisations of devilry and witchcraft. It is a fine balance between educating the viewer in the subject and providing exploitation entertainment. For the most part the film succeeds as both.
The Birth of a Cult Classic
Häxan begins in the earnest manner of a documentary, a lecture not far short of a staid Power Point presentation at a particularly lethargic meeting. But soon it engages with its astonishing scenes of animation – reminiscent of the works of Jan Svankmayer – that show the rise in the money markets and a particularly fascinating mechanised depiction of a Bosch inspired Hell. Suddenly the possibilities of film become apparent and anything is deemed possible.
Controversy in Häxan
Contemporary audiences often assume that a liberalisation of on screen representation began in the 1960s but this is a distortion brought about by earlier attempts, particularly in the 1930s, to restrict what is portrayed on film. Häxan, while certainly causing controversy when it was released, is a product of an age that was in the advanced stages of understanding how film could portray anything the maker imagined. This free-for-all allowed Christensen, at the time one of Denmark’s most respected actors, to let his imagination run riot. The result was over two years of inspirational research and a budget (funded by a Swedish company) that was unheard of at the time. And then the criticisms really came in.
The Black Mass
The films most controversial segment, among many, concerns a coven of witches attending a black mass. Applying flying ointment they travel on their brooms to a graveyard where the devil himself slaughters a mewling baby, tossing it into a bubbling cauldron while the worshipers frolic. The sequence still has the power to shock in that its realisation, even in this age of CGI wizardry, because it is so convincing and so blasphemous.
Häxan: A History of a Film
Häxan has had a torturous (probably appropriate!) journey. Initially reviled it put the career of its high-flying director/actor (Christensen also appears in the film – appropriately as the devil) on hold, although various prints were revived through the years. In 1968 a truncated version was produced with an inappropriate jazz score and William Burroughs inimitable voice narrating the film. This version was for some time the only one available to the general public. Redemption’s 1994 release of a pristine VHS version of the film in the UK rendered this obsolete for over a decade. Now the film is available for reappraisal on DVD featuring a selection of scores and the Burroughs version for the curious. Still shocking, divisive and engaging Häxan is that rare item – a film that is one of a kind.
