Witchcraft through the ages : the story of Häxan, the world's strangest film, and the man who made it

Was Häxan, The Witch, the first and most perverse exploitation film, replete with Satanic debauchery, or the original classic of documentary cinema? Benjamin Christensen’s macabre 1922 masterpiece is the first true film maudit and the world’s first cult movie. This taboo-shattering work occupies an exclusive niche in the annals of horror cinema. Greeted by angry protests upon release, it was censored, banned and condemned everywhere. Even today, it is widely considered both the most morbid and perverse film ever made, as well as a sober, scientific and thoroughly human document. To Christensen it was the consuming obsession of his life, the film he was put on earth to make. It was a labour of love that would win him a kind of immortality that hung over the rest of his career like a dark shadow. Who was this mysterious man, Benjamin Christensen, and what really drove him to create this extraordinary epic? Delving into the original Danish source material, author Jack Stevenson places Häxan within the context of Christensen’s wider career, and also within the context of the times. Amazingly, many of the issues that embroiled this film upon its release are still being hotly debated today. Table Of Contents......Page 5 Introduction......Page 6 Ch.1 - The Early Years......Page 8 Ch.2 - The Mysterious X......Page 15 Ch.3 - Blind Justice......Page 20 Ch. 5 - Public Reaction to The Witch......Page 48 Ch. 6 - The German and American Films......Page 68 Ch. 8 - The Danish Comeback and The Witch Revived......Page 94 Ch. 9 - Journey Into Twilight......Page 108 Ch. 10 - The Witch Lives!......Page 112 Footnotes......Page 120 Using the original Danish source material, author Jack Stevenson places 'Haxan' within the context of Benjamin Christensen's wider career, and also within the context of the times, in the process presenting a picture of this film at the 'moment of impact'." By Jack Stevenson. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 119-121), Filmography (p. 122-124), And Index.