ada the leading man is my tpye

Borgarkeri A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

bkmontgomery-83862 The 1968 version shortens the time, replaces the music with that of a jazz quartet and adds a wonderful narration by William S Burroughs. Burroughs is somehow the perfect fit for this.As for the film, there's plenty of striking and outlandish sights to he seen, although you're not going to get pulled in by what little story there is. It's very creepy and slightly psychedelic (of course the film was made before psychedelic drugs were invented.) so it's a great film to watch on Halloween, and I can imagine it would also be excellent if you were tripping. I've never tripped, so I can only speculate.The film, even the 1968 version, eventuality begins to drag until it's slowed down to a sluggish pace. You'll find yourself dismayed at the prospect of yet another staging of witches doing basically what they did every other "reinactment" in the filmOverall, it's a decent film, and the sets were quite complicate for the time period, but one could feel forgiven if they begin to feel bored after a half hour.

sagniknath It is amazing how so many of the modern documentaries available on Netflix strive to hold my attention yet something that's almost 100 years old still strikes a chord as to its relevance today.Haxan helps disperse the notion that silent films from the bygone era are but only an oddity when it comes to showcasing real life on the screen. The silent film interspersed by the dialogue cards actually aid in conveying the story of witchcraft from the point of view of a historical narrative. Having instead inserted dialogue with the still inferior audio quality in films to follow soon after would have taken away the verisimilitude of the dramatised scenes for the documentary. Also the the different color tones sprayed over the monochrome film ( blue for night scene, sepia for fire , establish a grim slightly surreal atmosphere. The montage of images depicting gruesome times in Medieval life interspersed with vignettes of Devil Worship and Inquisition Torture had a very unsettling effect . There is a lot of skin shown along with a woman's bare bottom at a certain point. Ofcourse modern audiences are desensitized to such artistry but it must have been a daring execution back in the 1920s. I am especially confident this would have caused a lot of controversy had it been made in the US instead of Sweden.In any case, Haxan is definitely worth remembering

popcorninhell The concept of Haxan is deceptively simple. It's a dramatization of witchcraft throughout the ages providing reenactments largely based on the Malleus Maleficarum a 13th century witch-hunting manual. There isn't really a formal narrative though director Benjamin Christensen himself becomes the reoccurring character of the devil throughout the film's various vignettes. It's split into four acts: one setting the standard for what witchcraft is, two giving the audience rhetorical and increasingly surreal "evidence" of witchcraft and the last giving us a pat explanation for witchcraft in a modern context.What sets Haxan apart from other surviving films of the silent era is it's attempt to construct a central argument and support it with "evidence" in the form of its reenactments. It doesn't work but the visual intelligence and editing of Haxan is leaps and bounds above anything Edison Manufacturing ever released. The comparisons between D.W. Griffith and Christensen are certainly well founded as Christensen provides coherence and insight amid the film's proto- surreal cinematography. He even provides some silhouetted animation that channels Lotte Reiniger's The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926).Yet just like Luis Bunuel's L'age d'Or (1930), Haxan sells itself as a documentary of sorts. The first act of the film struts across the screen with all the authority of an anthropology professor, dully pointing at this and that as evidence of witchcraft. There are still images of paintings and woodcarvings in addition to a moving diagram of the heliocentric solar system; all signalling to the existence of witchcraft in all its ugly, foul and murderous forms. As the other acts take over, so do our emotions. Only the "bad guy" as it were, becomes hypocritical clerics and gullible townsfolk. Are these poor desperate women victims of he times or are they truly accessories of the devil? It's clear the film wants to have it both ways.The film ultimately deconstructs the act of witchcraft from one of maleficence and devil worship to one of mental illness; cheer- leading for the current time's rational thinking winning out against superstition. It's this last act's classroom lecture-like prognostications, that stringently frames what we just saw in an un- disputable context, that ruins the film. It's as if we were put into a somnambulist trance; images of an almost existential nature filling our head with complex thoughts. Then like a blunt hammer, the film knocks us into reality and asks "what did you learn?" Plus, considering the film was released in 1922, we're experiencing a "modern" rationality that included the concepts of hysteria and electroshock therapy so Haxan isn't exactly the bastion of progressive thinking it thinks it is.From a historical perspective, Haxan is an interesting little relic that provides some stunning visual tableaux that rivals Nosferatu (1922) in the horror genre. Yet as a narrative, the film is an absolute mess. It ruins any credibility it has by constantly employing heavy-handed metaphor, and at times outright saying "look how backwards we once were."

hellraiser7 This is one of the only silent horror films and documentaries that I really like and I'm not the biggest fan of either. This film to me is great because it was one of the most daring and really ahead of it's time a whole documentary on Witchcraft. It was amazing that a film like this exists at all though if you think about it makes sense, back them just when filmmaking was really young there weren't really any rules created, you could make a film of just about anything you wanted and put it out there (hopefully we can get that kind of privilege back once more).There are actually two versions of the film, one the silent film version and the other with Narration by writer William Buroughs (which is cool since that's a writer I actually like) and has a jazz score. I think both versions are good in their own way, though I like the second version more since I saw that one first and it really keeps the momentum of the film going. Plus I really like the jazz score which at times was fun and fit the film (well OK some parts of the score didn't fit in places but what are you going to do). However for the silent film version I like that one because it gives the film a more moody sensibility and it's orchastratic score I think is fantastic.I really like some of the matter your being educated in, like the first part which is strange since it's based on some of the old and ancient theories in Astronony, like the planets revolving around the sun and stars are held up by some invisible poles. But in a way this just really helps set up the tone, making you feel almost like you've traveled back in time to a class to be educated in the ancient ways. But you really get a lot of insight on the origin of this subculture, which I personally find fascinating.And of course we get the scenes that I feel are the most memorable visuals I've ever seen in a silent film. Like the portrayal of the witches that don't look stereotypical but most look like old ugly cronies with the nasty manners to boot. However to me the highlight was in the scenes with Satan himself whom of course was played by the director himself.The scenes can be a little unsettling but at the same time almost kinda funny, could be in a bit of the overacting of the director or those scenes weren't meant to be taken to seriously. But all the same I like the Satan is portrayed as a mischievous, scary, manipulative brute; misleading mortals to his own gains.One scene that always stood out was this strange ritual scene where one witch transports herself to. It's a really surreal and unsettling scene as if were looking into a nightmare. As we see each of the members of the ritual are inhuman and their all doing some sort of ceremonial dance and a lot of other bizarre creatures are just popping up.I know this was short review but I don't want to give too much away this is just one of those films you have to just see for yourself to believe. If your curious about the Wicken culture or are looking for any other gems from a bygone era then this film is worth a look.It's one hell of an education.Rating: 4 stars