Film Concert: Häxan

Grave robbing, torture, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath: Benjamin Christensen’s legendary film does not hold back and uses a series of dramatic vignettes to explore the scientific hypothesis that the witches of the Middle Ages suffered the same hysteria as turn-of-the-century psychiatric patients. But the film itself is far from serious – instead it’s a witches’ brew of the scary, gross, and darkly humorous.

A cultural-historical lecture, that's what the Danish director Benjamin Christensen called his film about medieval witch trials. With drawings and a pointer, he explains how the cosmos was imagined. In a model, planets move in spheres of glass, grotesque devils grin on woodcuts, and in a mechanical hell, sinners go up and down in pots.

With Häxan, Christensen threw the plot overboard and truly found a new way to use the film medium. He dared to start with a long educational section, use almost only amateurs in the roles, mix horror film effects with equally frightening realism, and finish with a humanistic appeal. When Häxan premiered in 1922, the Swedish Film Institute had paid for the most expensive Scandinavian silent film in history. It was heavily edited in many countries and banned in the USA, yet it was a global success. More than one hundred years later, Häxan is still unlike anything else you have ever seen.

ABOUT THE MUSIC

Cult Member is a rare feat of power. The Tromsø band released their first EP in 2020 and released their debut album Infinite Death that was nominated at the Norwegian Grammys the year after. With a vocalist from Denton County Texas and members from well-known punk and hardcore bands such as Die A Legend, Jabba and Reptile Master, they play a fast and heavy mix of hardcore and thrash. After playing all over Norway, they are becoming an established name in the underground scene. Members of the band have previously played to silent films such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Tromsø brenner. Cult Member performed their first ever silent film concert when Häxan premiered at Silent Film Days in 2024 and are ready to tear the roof of Alfheim with this long overdue encore performance!