Haxan, released in English as Witchcraft Through the Ages, is a 1922 Swedish-Danish silent film written and directed by Benjamin Christensen, blending documentary-style lecture material with elaborately staged dramatic reenactments to examine the history of witchcraft accusations and their possible links to hysteria and mental illness. The film was unusually costly for its time and place, and its explicit, often disturbing depictions of torture, demonic ritual and nudity led to censorship in several countries on its original release. Haxan is widely regarded as a landmark of early horror and pseudo-documentary filmmaking and has been highly influential on later horror cinema despite its atypical hybrid form.
Facts
Release YearSourced to the subject's own account CountrySourced to the subject's own accountThe same live Wikipedia article infobox names only Sweden in its own country field (studio Svensk Filmindustri, Sweden-only distributor row); its own lead sentence calls the film Swedish-Danish. Recorded as Sweden and Denmark per the lead, source-internal inconsistency left for a future citation-repair pass rather than silently resolved. Classification
Original LanguageSourced to the subject's own account Connections
In Medium
Source Haxan (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: Denmark, originated there.
- Also in Geography Atlas: Sweden, originated there.
- Also in Language Atlas: Swedish, original language there.
Sources
1. Haxan (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundationlead sentence, Wikipedia REST summary extract
Häxan is a 1922 Swedish-Danish silent horror essay film written and directed by Benjamin Christensen.
Haxan, Description, original language
Haxan, released in English as Witchcraft Through the Ages, is a 1922 Swedish-Danish silent film written and directed by Benjamin Christensen, blending documentary-style lecture material with elaborately staged dramatic reenactments to examine the history of witchcraft accusations and their possible links to hysteria and mental illness.
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