Häxan

Grave robbing, torture, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath: Benjamin Christensen’s legendary silent film uses a series of dramatic vignettes to explore the scientific hypothesis that the witches of the Middle Ages and early modern era suffered from the same ills as psychiatric patients diagnosed with hysteria in the film's own time. Far from a dry dissertation on the topic, the film itself is a witches’ brew of the scary, the gross, and the darkly humorous. Christensen’s mix-and-match approach to genre anticipates gothic horror, documentary re-creation, and the essay film, making for an experience unlike anything else in the history of cinema.

Film Info

  • Denmark
  • 1922
  • 105 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.33:1
  • Swedish
  • Spine #134

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 2K digital restoration
  • Music from the 1922 Danish premiere, arranged by film-music specialist Gillian B. Anderson and performed by the Czech Film Orchestra in 2001, presented in 5.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio
  • Audio commentary from 2001 featuring film scholar Casper Tybjerg
  • Witchcraft Through the Ages (1968), a seventy-six-minute version of Häxan narrated by author William S. Burroughs, with a soundtrack featuring violinist Jean-Luc Ponty
  • Director Benjamin Christensen’s introduction to the 1941 rerelease
  • Outtakes
  • Bibliothèque diabolique, a photographic exploration of Christensen’s historical sources, created in 2001
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Chris Fujiwara, remarks on the score by Anderson, and an essay by scholar Chloé Germaine Buckley

Blu-ray cover by Glyn Smith

Purchase Options

Collector's Sets

Collector's Set

Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films

Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films

DVD Box Set

50 Discs

$650.00

Out Of Print

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 2K digital restoration
  • Music from the 1922 Danish premiere, arranged by film-music specialist Gillian B. Anderson and performed by the Czech Film Orchestra in 2001, presented in 5.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio
  • Audio commentary from 2001 featuring film scholar Casper Tybjerg
  • Witchcraft Through the Ages (1968), a seventy-six-minute version of Häxan narrated by author William S. Burroughs, with a soundtrack featuring violinist Jean-Luc Ponty
  • Director Benjamin Christensen’s introduction to the 1941 rerelease
  • Outtakes
  • Bibliothèque diabolique, a photographic exploration of Christensen’s historical sources, created in 2001
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Chris Fujiwara, remarks on the score by Anderson, and an essay by scholar Chloé Germaine Buckley

Blu-ray cover by Glyn Smith

Häxan
Cast
Benjamin Christensen
The devil
Astrid Holm
The printer’s wife, Anna
Karen Winther
Anna’s sister
Maren Pedersen
Maria the weaver, a witch
Wilhelmine Henriksen
Apelone, a poor old woman
Kate Fabian
Old maid
Oscar Stribolt
Friar
Clara Pontoppidan
Sister Cecilia
Alice O’Fredericks
Nun
Johannes Andersen
Father Henrik, witch judge
Elith Pio
Johannes, witch judge
Aage Hertel
Witch judge
Ib Schønberg
Witch judge
Poul Reumert
Jeweler
Albrecht Schmidt
Alienist
Credits
Director
Benjamin Christensen
Written by
Benjamin Christensen
Cinematography
Johan Ankerstjerne
Editing
Edla Hansen
Set decoration
Richard Louw

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