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Häxan (international title: Witchcraft Through The Ages), directed by Benjamin Christensen, is a 1922 Swedish/Danish movie often noted as either one of the first modern documentaries, an early horror movie, or one of the first exploitation films.

Ostensibly, it's a serious look at medieval superstition and the horrific consequences thereof, and how we're not so very different today. It achieves this by showing etchings from medieval works about witchcraft, pictures of torture implements, and dramatized scenes of sorcery, black masses, inquisitions, and modern psychiatry, featuring plenty of Gorn and Fan Service.

The film is in the public domain and can be viewed or downloaded at the Internet Archive.

Not to be confused with the First-Person Shooter Hexen.

Tropes used in Häxan include:

Burn the Witch: Well, duh.
Cold-Blooded Torture
Eats Babies: One of the things believed to have happened at black masses.
Fan Service: A surprising amount of nudity for a 1922 film.
- Fan Disservice: A surprising amount of nudity by older women and men being tortured or dressed up like demons.
Good Cop, Bad Cop: During the Inquisition era.
Mockumentary
Morton's Fork: The witch trials make heavy use of this.
Not So Different: Medieval superstition about witches and demons is compared to then-modern views on mental illness.
Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions
Satan
Shown Their Work: The film is largely based on the Malleus Maleficarum, faults and all.
Wicked Witch: Deconstructed.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{work}}
+[[File:Haxan_poster_final_rsz.jpg|thumb|300px]]
-''Häxan'' (international title: ''Witchcraft Through The Ages''), directed by Benjamin Christensen, is a 1922 Swedish/Danish movie often noted as either one of the first modern documentaries, an early horror movie, or one of the first [[Exploitation Film|exploitation films]].
+''[[Häxan]]'' (international title: ''Witchcraft Through The Ages''), directed by Benjamin Christensen, is a 1922 Swedish/Danish movie often noted as either one of the first modern documentaries, an early horror movie, or one of the first [[Exploitation Film|exploitation films]].
-Ostensibly, it's a serious look at mediaeval superstition and the horriffic consequences thereof, and how we're not so very different today. It achieves this by showing etchings from mediaeval works about witchcraft, pictures of torture implements, and dramatised scenes of sorcery, black masses, inquisitions, and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|modern psychiatry]], featuring plenty of [[Gorn]] and [[Fan Service]].
+Ostensibly, it's a serious look at medieval superstition and the horrific consequences thereof, and how we're not so very different today. It achieves this by showing etchings from medieval works about witchcraft, pictures of torture implements, and dramatized scenes of sorcery, black masses, inquisitions, and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|modern psychiatry]], featuring plenty of [[Gorn]] and [[Fan Service]].
-The film is in the public domain and can be viewed [http://www.archive.org/details/Haxan_tinted_and_subtitled here].
+The film is in the public domain and can be [http://www.archive.org/details/Haxan_tinted_and_subtitled viewed or downloaded at the Internet Archive].
-----
-=== Contains examples of: ===
+Not to be confused with the [[First-Person Shooter]] ''[[Hexen]]''.
-* [[Banned in China|Banned In Quite A Few Places]] including the US upon release. Apparently caused riots in Spain, where it was accused of being blasphemous because it contained, among other things, scenes with nuns kissing Satan's ass.
+{{tropelist}}
 * [[Burn the Witch]]: Well, duh.
 * [[Cold-Blooded Torture]]
 * [[Eats Babies]]: One of the things believed to have happened at black masses.
-* [[Enforced Method Acting]]: One of the actresses asked to try out a pair of mediaeval thumbscrews. Christensen was happy to film the experiment.
-{{quote| I won't divulge any of the secrets I made the young lady tell me within less than a minute.}}
 * [[Fan Service]]: A surprising amount of nudity for a 1922 film.
 ** [[Fan Disservice]]: A surprising amount of nudity by older women and men being tortured or dressed up like demons.
@@ Line 20: / Line 19: @@
 * [[Mockumentary]]
 * [[Morton's Fork]]: The witch trials make heavy use of this.
-* [[Not So Different]]: Mediaeval superstition about witches and demons is compared to then-modern views on mental illness.
+* [[Not So Different]]: Medieval superstition about witches and demons is compared to then-modern views on mental illness.
 * [[Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions]]
 * [[Satan]]
@@ Line 30: / Line 29: @@
 [[Category:Films of the 1920s]]
 [[Category:Horror Films]]
-[[Category:Haxan]]
+[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
 [[Category:Film]]
-[[Category:Häxan]]
-[[Category:Laurel and Hardy]]