#Benjamin Christensen

[diana-andraste]

Häxan film still, Benjamin Christensen, 1922

"Why documentary horror Häxan still terrifies a century on"

[weirdlookindog]

Devil marking the witch in Häxan (1922)

[marypickfords]

Hævnens nat (Benjamin Christensen, 1916)

[thevelvetgoldmine]

HÄXAN (1922) dir. Benjamin Christensen

[classichorrorblog]

Häxan (1922)

[arkashas]

HÄXAN (1922) dir. Benjamin Christensen

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Häxan (1922)

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

[gothicbutcher666]

⋆˖⁺‧₊☽ ℌä𝔵𝔞𝔫 (1922) 𝔡𝔦𝔯. 𝔅𝔢𝔫𝔧𝔞𝔪𝔦𝔫 ℭ𝔥𝔯𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔢𝔫𝔰𝔢𝔫 ☾₊‧⁺˖⋆

[enterfilm]

HÄXAN (Benjamin Christensen, 1922)

[toiich]

Häxan (1922), dir. Benjamin Christensen

[vagueeyes]

A part of the in9 + extended universe journey that I'm really enjoying is watching the films that the League love - you get to know their influences and understand how their brains work!

Last weekend, I watched HÄXAN - mainly for three reasons (reesons?):

It's a favourite film of Reece's

@silverview's post about the film's parallels to THE TRIAL OF ELIZABETH GADGE

@unreesonable's post about Reece narrating the film at an event in 2017 (I've also since read the interviews he did when he performed it at the Flatpack Festival in 2018). After watching, I can definitely see why he was invited to do this (it's SO in his wheelhouse). What fun these events must have been!

Yesterday I relistened to the commentary for THE TRIAL OF ELIZABETH GADGE, and today I reread the script and rewatched/read along. I already quite like the episode, but watching the film definitely made me appreciate it even more!

Under the cut are 4 moments of interest from the script + ep, as well as 5 film + ep parallels that jumped out at me:

some spoilers for HÄXAN (& ELIZABETH GADGE ofc), also trigger warning for depictions of torture

In the commentary, r&s mention the opening scene was cut down, which is definitely what happened - in the episode, they also added in a shot of a crow, later revealed to be Elizabeth Gadge:

I really love the first two pages of the script because it's so full of detail. The character descriptions for Mr Warren & Mr Clarke, in particular, is my favourite part:

Not to mention this exchange (& stage direction) that was cut:

Steve also talks about them making the mistake of calling the family the Gadges, and it turns out one of these mistakes is left in the script (which I really didn't notice until I was rewatching & reading along!):

One main element of the film that I think the episode captured really well is how baseless and ridiculous witch trials were. But what I think is also interesting is that the episode actually has a calculated reason for Elizabeth Gadge being accused (her family wants to get rid of her so they can take over her room), whereas in the the film's dramatised witch trial, a man dies in his bed and his wife subsequently accuses a poor, old woman (who turns up to their house to beg for food) of causing his death through witchcraft. She is quickly arrested and tortured into confessing.

In both instances, the inquisitors in the film & Mr Warren in the episode have no interest in the truth!

The aforementioned wife in the film also gets arrested and accused of witchcraft, and there's a scene where she's essentially tricked into confessing, which reminds me of the scene where Mr Warren traps Elizabeth Gadge by crumbling & placing the cheese in front of her, so that Snowflake the mouse would go to her:

There's also a section in the film that shows the instruments of torture that were used to extract "confessions", pointing out, "You and I would also be driven to confess mysterious talents with the help of such tools, isn't that so?"

There's a part about the thumbscrew, which is also shown in the episode! There's even a bit in the film where one of the actresses apparently "insisted" on trying it out, which was pretty wild.

The "pricking" scene in the episode is also in the film, although the latter depicts it for a different reason:

Finally, on a more light-hearted note, I have to mention the part where Waterhouse accuses Elizabeth Gadge of "kissing the Devil's arse":

I was convinced r&s made that up, but this is actually shown, like, twice in the film??

What!!

[weirdlookindog]

Häxan (1922)

[marypickfords]

Hævnens nat (Benjamin Christensen, 1916)

[mirobraz]

[wamorris56-monstertheater]

'Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages' 1922. A Film by Benjamin Christensen.