| Grave robbing, torture, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath: Danish director |
| Benjamin Christensen's legendary film uses a series of dramatic vignettes to |
| explore the scientific hypothesis that the witches of the middle ages suffered |
| the same hysteria as turn-of-the-century psychiatric patients. But the film |
| itself is far from serious, instead it's a witches' brew of the scary, |
| gross, and darkly humorous. |
| DIRECTOR: |
Benjamin Christensen |
| MAIN CAST: |
Astrid Holm, Elisabeth Christensen, Ella La Cour, |
|
Emmy Schonfeld, Karen Winther, Maren Pedersen |
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Two versions of the film: "Haxan" (1922) - a new, speed-corrected digital transfer |
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of the Swedish Film Institute's tinted restoration; and |
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"Witchcraft Through the Ages" (1968) - the 74-minute version of "Haxan", |
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narrated by William S. Burroughs, with a soundtrack featuring Jean-Luc Ponty. |
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| EXTRAS: |
Audio Commentary by Danish silent film scholar Casper Tybjerg; Outtakes; |
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Production Stills; ; Music from the original Danish premiere, arranged by |
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film music historian Gillian Anderson and performed by the Czech Film Orchestra; |
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Director Benjamin Christensen's introduction to the 1941 re-release; "Bibliotheque |
|
Diabolique" - a photographic exploration of Christensen's historical sources |