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Haxan (from 1922) is a difficult one to quantify. Intending
to primarily be a documentary describing the facts and legends
surrounding the interesting subject of witchcraft and Satanism,
it uses sketched depictions, models, animation and specially
shot fictional film footage to lecture rather than entertain
viewers, and suffers from getting caught between being a public
information film and a Fritz Lang-type short.
You
could be forgiven for thinking that this DVD contains two
features. On the menus Haxan is listed as the main
film, with Witchcraft Through the Ages sitting as a
special feature. In actuality, they're the same thing. Haxan
is tediously long at 104 minutes. Each line of subtitles seems
to remain on the screen for an age, and I came dangerously
(or should that be blissfully) close to falling asleep within
the first five minutes. Furthermore, the original soundtrack
is curiously unrelated in style to what is happening on screen.
Rather than complimenting the piece it's manically fast and
grating, which is almost certainly why we're offered two alternatives
scores - one being the Brontt Industries Kapital in Dolby
5.1, the other by Geoff Smith in Dolby 2.0.
Witchcraft
Through the Ages is the same feature, only mercifully
28 minutes shorter because of a narration replacing the subtitles.
Although this makes the experience somewhat more palatable,
William S. Burroughs' tone is conducive with the Green Cross
Code Man instructing us on how to negotiate a crossing of
the road, or perhaps an old piece of wildlife film covering
the lions of the Serengeti.
In
conclusion, Haxan does have its moments. The masks
and costumes and the cleverly incorporated animations are
impressive. Additionally, some of the live-action antics will
make some people smile; particularly the Devil's shenanigans.
However, the whole is unlikely to hold the attention of mainstream
or even horror viewers, perhaps only appealing to those wishing
to study factual references to witchcraft.
Ty
Power
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