Häxan - The Esoteric Cut (1922) ****

Writer/director Benjamin Christensen described his 1922 film Häxan as a “cultural history lecture in moving pictures." His silent film explores witchcraft in the Middle Ages and compares it to modern treatment (at the time) of mental illness, combining historical descriptions via intertitles with on-screen reenactments. In the process, he created something the likes of which had never been seen before—a pseudo documentary/pseudo horror film—that serves all at once as a somber reminder of what superstition can cause people to do, a delightfully demonic romp, and a virtual handbook for goths everywhere.

Christensen himself plays Satan, lasciviously flicking his tongue at and luring women in various states of (un)dress throughout the film. All the iconic imagery you could want on this topic is here—black magic, a bubbling cauldron, a full moon, creepy forests, infant sacrifice, blasphemy, torture. If I'm being honest, these are the parts of the film that entertain me the most—I'd love to watch or make an edited version consisting only of the fiendish recreations. 

Or maybe that's what the 77-minute re-edited 1968 version, Witchcraft Through The Ages, narrated by William S. Burroughs and including a jazz score, consists of? I don't know; I've yet to watch that version. This third time around I watched the 85-minute 2020-produced Esoteric Cut, as opposed to the restored 106-minute version that I watched in my previous viewing in 2019 (there's also an 83-minute 1990-produced French cut sourced from a VHS tape that I have yet to see).

Per Wikipedia, "Christensen's meticulous recreation of medieval scenes and the lengthy production period (caused) the film (to be) the most expensive Scandinavian silent film ever made (at the time), costing nearly two million Swedish kronor." It shows—the set pieces, costumes and cinematography still impress more than 100 years on.

Häxan is a tad long and dry and tends to drag here and there but there are always some deliciously dark and devilish visuals to pull you back in before too long and there is an undercurrent of humor throughout. It's as hilarious to think about how this film was controversial (and banned) in its day as it is sad to think about how women were treated during the time of the depicted European witch hunts (and the misogeny that is still rampant today).