mandag den 9. august 2010

1923 - (16) Heksen

I saw screenshots from this movie in an encyclopedia as a child. Never thought i was ever going to watch this though. Also, this is a part Danish. I'm a Dane, making this even more interesting for me.

Title: Heksen, Häxan, The Witch, who knows...
Director: Benjamin Christensen 
Year: 1923 
Runtime (My version): 87 mins.
Seen: 2009

How i got this: Archive.org, and I was extremely surprised to find this there.

Plot Outline: This is a pseudo-documentary, part shock-movie, that describes how people saw witches as something very real in the old days, showing dark rituals and interrogations, and even a nunnery running amok. All of this being wrapped in a frame narrative, telling us how all of this crazyness was probably caused by prejudism, fear and ignorance.

First impression: I really have NO idea about what this movie will be like.
But on second thought: There was NO way I could have figured out what this would be like beforehand.

General comments: Sometime in the future I will have to watch a movie called "Pink Flamingoes" it is supposedly made to shock people. Now, this movie must have been kinda' like watching "Pink Flamingoes" back in 1923. The scenes are very surreal and a lot of crazy outfits and decorations makes this movie borderline disturbing, and in any case very unusual even today. The acting in this movie is somewhat secondary to the details of the masks, outfits and models of the various demons and rituals. I find it hard to judge this movie because it is so unlike anything I have ever seen, and probably ever will see.

In any case this MUST have caused quite the stir when it was released. It involves ass-kissing, human sacrifice, and scenes that would make Freudian people run amok in "I told you so".

Music: I really can't remember.

Pictures: These are what mainly carries the movie, and they manage to do so by being well-shot, shocking and obscure.

Essentially this is: Undefinable, provoking and generally hard seeing the point in.

Why you should see this: This is so obscure, that it might be work bragging about if you are the artsy type.
Why you shouldn't see this: There really isn't that much to carry the story.

Honorable mention: The demon with the tongue in the womans nightmare. He is genuinely peverted. Really, he is a dirty dirty guy.
 
Final rating: 62/100, yeah, this was not really for me.
 
BTW: I don't think anybody will be able to put this movie in a box.

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