Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

Haxan

Play trailer Poster for Haxan 1929 1h 27m Horror Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
93% Tomatometer 29 Reviews 81% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
A hybrid of documentary and fiction, this silent film explores the history of witchcraft, demonology and satanism. It shows representations of evil in a variety of ancient and medieval artworks, offers vignettes illustrating a number of superstitious practices and presents a narrative about the persecution of a woman accused of witchcraft. The film ends by suggesting that the modern science of psychology offers important insight into the beliefs and practices of the past.
Watch on Fandango at Home Stream Now

Where to Watch

Haxan

Critics Reviews

View More (29)
Wael Khairy RogerEbert.com “Häxan” is the most fascinating horror documentary I’ve ever seen Feb 20, 2024 Full Review Mordaunt Hall New York Times The picture is, for the most part, fantastically conceived and directed, holding the onlooker in a sort of medieval spell. Oct 8, 2020 Full Review Variety Staff Variety Swedish and Danish pictures easily hold the palm for morbid realism and in many cases for brilliant acting and production. May 16, 2008 Full Review Jorge Loser Espinof ...an unlikely hybrid of documentary, visual essay, horror and experimental cinema...[Full review in Spanish] Rated: 5/5 Jan 29, 2025 Full Review Sean Axmaker Stream on Demand One of the most beautiful and visually sophisticated films of its era, this early example of the essay film manages to be playful in its fantasy recreations and harrowing in its exploration of the persecution, sadism, and cycle of death ... Nov 16, 2024 Full Review Eddie Harrison film-authority.com …one of the great milestones in cinema history…Häxan’s brand of satanic panic defines how the patriarchy saw women, but also exposes how spurious fallacies were used to control females and keep them in their wrongful place… Rated: 4/5 Nov 4, 2024 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More (286)
Mal R. One of the best silent films Rated 4 out of 5 stars 11/07/25 Full Review Stephen G. The hysteria amongst people and the fervor they will use to explain the often unexplainable is powerful, and they don't shy away from the unpleasantness of Fear and Ignorance. It really shows the Atrocities in the name of the church the Catholics were willing to use to spread fear amongst the uneducated masses for control over even their thoughts, not just their physical bodies. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 11/05/25 Full Review Kyle M Withers slowly by age but debatably essential to pioneering the horror genre with an exquisite examination that borderlines speculate its subject bridging some coincidental factuality mixed into disturbing imagery. (B) Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 10/23/25 Full Review Audience Member A GOOD DOCUMENTARY ABOUT WTCHCRAFT IT HAS A REALLY GOOD ATMOSPHERE AND LOOK FOR 1922 Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 08/07/24 Full Review BigD J This film is a century old and so very creative, innovative, and really well thought out by Christensen. Not to mention, the creep factor of this film is quite glorious! Fantastic depiction of witch fear mongering. Seeing as it’s over 100 years old (1922, not ‘29 as listed), a silent Danish/Swedish film that requires English subtitles, it can be construed as a bit boring. This, because we’ve become so desensitized, over the decades. But, for those who appreciate creativity and detail, this film is a must! Rated 4 out of 5 stars 06/14/24 Full Review Teddy B An effectively haunting and informative piece of work, 'Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages' provides a frankly unforgettable and quite stylish look into both the religious aspects of witchcraft and the very real, very horrifying, and very inhumane side and how modern psychology plays into both. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 09/21/24 Full Review Read all reviews
Haxan

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

View All

Benjamin Christensen

Director

Benjamin Christensen

Djævlen

Maren Pedersen

Heksen

Clara Pontoppidan

Nonne

Elith Pio

Heksedommer

Oscar Stribolt

Graabroder

More Like This

View All
The Phantom of the Opera 90% 84% The Phantom of the Opera Watchlist Vampyr 98% 82% Vampyr Watchlist Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 92% 67% Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Watchlist Frankenstein 94% 87% Frankenstein Watchlist Island of Lost Souls 88% 81% Island of Lost Souls Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More
View All

Haxan

Haxan (1922) Haxan (1922) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis A hybrid of documentary and fiction, this silent film explores the history of witchcraft, demonology and satanism. It shows representations of evil in a variety of ancient and medieval artworks, offers vignettes illustrating a number of superstitious practices and presents a narrative about the persecution of a woman accused of witchcraft. The film ends by suggesting that the modern science of psychology offers important insight into the beliefs and practices of the past.
Director
Benjamin Christensen
Screenwriter
Benjamin Christensen
Distributor
Criterion Collection, Janus Films, BijouFlix Releasing, Hollywood's Attic, Kino International Corp., Vidimax, Western Video, Embassy Pictures, Something Weird Video, New York Film Annex, Grapevine Video
Production Co
Svensk Filmindustri, Aljosha Production Company
Genre
Horror
Release Date (Theaters)
May 27, 1929, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Aug 10, 2016
Runtime
1h 27m
Most Popular at Home Now