Directed by:
Benjamin ChristensenScreenplay:
Benjamin ChristensenCinematography:
Johan AnkerstjerneCast:
Maren Pedersen, Clara Pontoppidan, Elith Pio, Oscar Stribolt, Tora Teje, Benjamin Christensen, Poul Reumert, Karen Winther, Kate Fabian, Else Vermehren (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
Grave robbing, torture, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath: Benjamin Christensen’s legendary silent film 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. Far from a dry dissertation on the topic, the film itself is a witches’ brew of the scary, the gross, and the darkly humorous. Christensen’s mix-and-match approach to genre anticipates gothic horror, documentary re-creation, and the essay film, making for an experience unlike anything else in the history of cinema. (Criterion)
(more)Cast
Clara Pontoppidan
Denmark
Elith Pio
Denmark
Oscar Stribolt
Denmark
Benjamin Christensen
Denmark
Best movies:
Chained: The Story of the Third Sex (1924)
Det hemmelighedsfulde X (1914)
Poul Reumert
Denmark
Kate Fabian
Denmark
Astrid Holm
Best movies:
The Phantom Carriage (1921)
Master of the House (1925)