Häxan

Häxan (Danish title: Heksen; English title: The Witches or Witchcraft Through the Ages) is a 1922 Swedish-Danish silent film written and directed by Benjamin Christensen. Based partly on Christensen's study of the Malleus Maleficarum, a 15th-century German guide for inquisitors, Häxan is a study of how superstition and the misunderstanding of diseases and mental illness could lead to the hysteria of the witch-hunts. The film was made as a documentary but contains dramatised sequences that are comparable to horror films.

With Christensen's meticulous recreation of medieval scenes and the lengthy production period, the film was the most expensive Scandinavian silent film ever made, costing nearly two million Swedish kronor. Although it won acclaim in Denmark and Sweden, the film was banned in the United States and heavily censored in other countries for what were considered at that time graphic depictions of torture, nudity, and sexual perversion.

Plot

Part 1

A scholarly dissertation on the appearances of demons and witches in primitive and medieval culture, a number of photographs of statuary, paintings, and woodcuts are used as demonstrative pieces. In addition, several large scale models are employed to demonstrate medieval concepts of the structure of the solar system and the commonly accepted depiction of Hell.

Häxan (album)

Häxan is a soundtrack to the 1922 Swedish/Danish silent horror film movie of the same name composed by Barði Jóhannsson.

It also is the first album he released under his own name (he had before released 3 studio albums and a few singles with his bands Bang Gang and Lady and Bird). It was performed by the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra, produced by Barði Jóhannson and Thorir Baldursson, and released in 2006.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Barði Jóhannson, except "Haxan II" (Barði Jóhannson, Phoebe Tolmer).. 

Musicians