Grave robbing, torture, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath: 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. —The Criterion Collection
Out of this world! 1922? Seriously?! Best documentary/film about witchcraft I've ever seen. The concept, the structure of the different chapters, the staging, the expressionist light, music and rhythm, playing with the genres... What else can you ask for? Master Piece!
"The San Francisco Silent Film Festival (SFSFF) is the biggest and most prestigious event of its kind in the Americas," writes Michael
One of the damnedest (and I use that word advisedly) movies I’ve ever seen. Ostensibly a documentary, this can often be found (when found at all) classified as a horror movie, and in some ways it’s… read review
Unfortunately, my viewing experience with this film wasn’t at all ideal. All of the images were tinted, and it was accompanied by a mostly inappropriate score (In my opinion). But the film itself is… read review
I was pleasantly surprised at how this film finished up. The beginning is a lesson in primitive cosmology, and then it moves to its more notorious and highly entertaining depictions of medieval sorcery… read review
