The Devil's Bath

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Audience Member Hard to believe this is the same 18th century Austria where just a few hundred miles away a powdered wig, golden frock-wearing Mozart was sipping champagne and playing piano for the Archbishop of Salzburg in a guilded palace. No, this is a true story of the everyday hardscrabble lives of the "low folk/peasants" in villages and countryside. Poverty, plight, desperation, suffocating expectations and Christian zealotry mixed over the millenia with pagan influences bringing horrifying consequences. An examination of repressed sexuality (her husband Wolf), depression, archaic religious doctrine, superstitions, misunderstandings of mental illness and age old oppression come to desperate and unforgettable acts and a shocking finale. This was a hard suffocating watch and I am writing this days after viewing it because the film, the message and many of the scenes are still on my mind. It is acted wonderfully and beautifully shot and dripping with atmosphere. This is a slow burn...a movie that is meant to creep on you, make you think and feel. A movie for Cinephiles...it is not an action thriller or Rom Com or super hero movie, it is horrific but not a a horror movie... it is not meant to entertain you...there is no comedy or joy here...it is cerebral and harsh, bleak and mean. I don't know if I will (or ever want to) view this again but I am glad I did the once and it has stayed with me, for better or worse, since. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 11/09/24 Full Review Hugo S Austria. 18th century. "The Devil's Bath" covers a dark era of Western history involving the ritualistic sacrifice of children. Agnes is a woman tormented by an unhappy marriage and a local community that constantly mistreats her. The daily routine of the main protagonist is immersed in a constant sense of dread in every aspect of her life. The woman is portrayed as a painful extension of the horrifying chapter of history she belongs to. A horror movie so raw and poignant that some scenes drag the viewer into an unbearable level of discomfort. Deeply unsettling! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/08/24 Full Review Troy M This one was so unbelievably heavy. Brutally bleak and achingly devastating. Despite being painfully slow, it does what it needs to do to deliver its heavy impact, and while less horror, more of a harrowing portrayal of depression. It was hopeless, dread inducing and oppressively cold, one of the darkest films I’ve experienced, there was not an ounce of joy throughout its entire 2 hour run time. With a mesmerizing performance from its lead (that confession scene will haunt me for days) it made a lasting impact and will stick with you long after. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 10/31/24 Full Review Milan Z Amazing movie. Great actors, beautiful shots. I guess it can be slow for people who actually don't like cinema. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 10/28/24 Full Review Audience Member Long, boring, and anticlimactic. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 10/20/24 Full Review John B Interesting premise but the painfully slow execution made it hard to stay engaged. We watched it over 2 nights as it draggedcand dragged. 20 minutes of content stretched out to 2 hours... Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 10/12/24 Full Review Read all reviews

The Devil's Bath

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