Häxan

The cast of Häxan includes:[1]

After finding a copy of the Malleus Maleficarum in a Berlin bookshop, Christensen spent two years—from 1919 to 1921—studying manuals, illustrations and treatises on witches and witch-hunting.[3] He included a lengthy bibliography in the original playbill at the film's premiere. He intended to create an entirely new film rather than an adaptation of literary fiction, which was the case for films of that day. "In principal [sic] I am against these adaptations... I seek to find the way forward to original films."[5]

Christensen obtained funding from the large Swedish production company Svensk Filmindustri, preferring it over the local Danish film studios, so that he could maintain complete artistic freedom.[4] He used the money to buy and refurbish the Astra film studio in Hellerup, Denmark. Filming then ran from February through October 1921. Christensen and cinematographer Johan Ankerstjerne filmed only at night or in a closed set to maintain the film's dark hue.[3] Post-production required another year before the film premiered in late 1922. Total cost for Svensk Film, including refurbishing the Astra Film Studio, reached between 1.5 and 2 million kronor, making Häxan the most expensive Scandinavian silent film in history.[4]

Häxan has had numerous different live scores over the years. When it premiered in Sweden, its accompaniment was compiled from pre-existing compositions. Details of the selection, which met with the director's enthusiastic approval, have been lost, but it was probably the same documented music as for the Copenhagen premiere two months later. In Copenhagen, it was played by a 50-piece orchestra, and this score, combining pieces by Schubert, Gluck, and Beethoven, was restored and recorded with a smaller ensemble by arranger/conductor Gillian Anderson for the 2001 Criterion Collection DVD edition.[6][7]

The film premiered simultaneously in four Swedish cities — Stockholm, Helsingborg, Malmö, and Gothenburg — on 18 September 1922,[1] unusual for Sweden at the time. It received its Danish premiere in Copenhagen on 7 November 1922.[1] It was re-released in 1931 in Denmark with an extended introduction by Christensen. The intertitles were also changed in this version. In 1968, Metro Pictures Corporation re-edited and re-released Häxan in the US as Witchcraft Through the Ages. It had added narration by William S. Burroughs and a jazz score by Daniel Humair, which was played by a quintet including Jean-Luc Ponty on violin.[8]

The Swedish Film Institute has carried out three restorations of Häxan:[9]

• 1976 tinted photochemical restoration
• 2007 tinted photochemical restoration
• 2012 tinted digital restoration

The 1976 restoration was released on DVD in the US and UK in 2001 by Criterion[10] and Tartan Video, along with Witchcraft Through the Ages, while the 2007 was released on DVD in Sweden by Svenska Filminstitutet.[11] In 2013, the 2012 digital restoration was released exclusively on US Blu-ray by Criterion.[12]

Häxan initially received a lukewarm response from critics upon its original release. As academic James Kendrick wrote, initial reviewers of the film "were confounded by [its] boundary-crossing aesthetic."[13] Its thematic content stirred controversy as well. A contemporary critic in Variety, for example, praised the film's acting, production, and its many scenes of "unadulterated horror", but added that "wonderful though this picture is, it is absolutely unfit for public exhibition."[14] A Copenhagen reviewer was likewise offended by "the satanic, perverted cruelty that blazes out of it, the cruelty we all know has stalked the ages like an evil shaggy beast, the chimera of mankind. But when it is captured, let it be locked up in a cell, either in a prison or a madhouse. Do not let it be presented with music by Wagner or Chopin, [...] to young men and women, who have entered the enchanted world of a movie theatre."[15] Conversely, a critic for The New York Times wrote in 1929, "The picture is, for the most part, fantastically conceived and directed, holding the onlooker in a sort of medieval spell. Most of the characters seem to have stepped from primitive paintings."[15] The film also acquired a cult following among surrealists, who greatly admired its subversion.[16]

Later years following its first release, critics have since praised the film as a classic in early cinema. In PopMatters, David Sanjek wrote, "The dazzling manner in which Haxan shifts from illustrated lecture to historical reenactment to special effects shots of witches on their broomsticks to modern-dress drama pointed to ways the documentary format could be used that others would not draw on until years into the future."[17] Peter Cowie similarly argued in Eighty Years of Cinema that it established Christensen as "an auteur of uncommon imagination and with a pictorial flair far ahead of his time."[18] Time Out London called it a "weird and rather wonderful brew of fiction, documentary and animation".[19] Film critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film three out of a possible four stars, lauding it as "visually stunning" and "genuinely scary". He additionally praised the director's performance as Satan.[20]

Häxan has become regarded by critics and scholars as Christensen's masterpiece.[18] On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently has an 91% approval rating, with an average rating of 7.50/10, based on 22 reviews.[21] It is listed in the film reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, which says "Part earnest academic exercise in correlating ancient fears with misunderstandings about mental illness and part salacious horror movie, Häxan is truly a unique work that still holds power to unnerve, even in today's jaded era."[22]

• List of films in the public domain
• Haxan Films

• Häxan at the Swedish Film Institute Database
• Häxan at Danish Film Institute (in Danish)
• Häxan at IMDb
• Häxan at AllMovie
• Häxan at Rotten Tomatoes
• Häxan (with tint and subtitles) is available for free download at the Internet Archive
• Häxan at Silent Era
• Häxan an essay by Chris Fujiwara at the Criterion Collection
• Häxan: About the Music an essay by Gillian Anderson at the Criterion Collection
• Evocative lobby poster