Häxan: Difference between revisions

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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 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 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]].

The film is in the public domain and can be viewed [http://www.archive.org/details/Haxan_tinted_and_subtitled here].

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* [[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.

* [[Burn the Witch]]: Well, duh.

* [[Cold Blooded Torture]]

* [[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.

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* [[Good Cop Bad Cop]]: During the Inquisition era.

* [[Mockumentary]]

* [[~~Mortons~~ Fork]]: The witch trials make heavy use of this.

* [[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.

* [[Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions]]