Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Celia A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Matt Greene The rare horror documentary, Haxan is a stone-cold nightmare of haunting visuals, told with a chilling matter-of-factness. Each genre is used to effectively convey the terror within both the victims and the persecutors of witch hunts through the ages. The reenactments, though potentially silly at times, are demented and unrelenting visions of paranoia and true devil worship. A milestone in the horror genre that even stands today as a terrifying movie experiment.

MisterWhiplash Even as I don't think the 1st and 7th parts work really so well - the former is more like a Powerpoint-slide presentation (albeit some dark slides) and the latter doesn't really add much and is dated with terms like 'hysteria' - the more times I watch this, the more I get into how disturbing and honest the imagery is, or at least the intent behind it.You're left to make your own assumptions by the majority of what this director shows you, and the images of the many monks and so-called "religious" men (aka Men in Power) is like pre-Joan-of-Arc Dreyer imagery. It's akin to how Scorsese shows gangsters and criminals or Jordan Belfort: you'd almost think this movie is borderline endorsing the burning of women at the stake for actually being witches, but such is the power of the anthropological state of things.Its impact lies in how much it sticks to its guns as far as showing what the world was like then from that of late 15th/early 16th century Middle Ages when the Inquisition was still going on (that part is left out, this is squarely about witches and while men are mentioned among the "8 million men/women/children" killed during this time, you know who is really the target of the Church at the time), and this includes the director showing us how someone like Maria the Weaver's descriptions of hell and Satan and people literally kissing his ass is conjured up in the minds of these men, and the torture devices that were used.The first time I watched this I almost thought the director sided *with* then men in a way, but I was mistaken; it's pretty clear to see how women were basically massacred in the name of, literally, witch-hunts. I think it's because of how effective the sets are, how the actors are as far as the choice of their faces (primarily Maria the Weaver who looks like she was plucked from 1488), and certain effects like showing the witches on brooms flying around - a dazzling sight today - and the costumes for the devil worshippers. It's a high quality production that I wish was really all one full story instead of something closer to a documentary anthology. But as it is, it works really well.

Johan Louwet Well this is more a piece of documentary and lecture about witches and witchcraft than an actual movie with a story. Sure there are sequences with narrative elements but their only purpose is to show the audience how during Middle Ages people looked upon the unknown which was labeled quickly as witchcraft. The story is told in 7 chapters of which the first only consists of texts and drawings explaining things. Interesting without doubt but it felt much like being schooled. The next chapters shows us concrete situations with actors and a great setting. Images are shown of the bad things that witches would do, how they brew potions, how they were flying on broomsticks and celebrating in the woods with devils. The fantasy aspects were pretty impressive even though it's obvious the devils are wearing suits, yet the horns, tail, sharp claws and teeth it's all there. Much attention goes to how innocent people were accused of witchcraft, how they were tortured (the instruments really look gruesome) and thus forced into a confession. In the end there is also made a connection with the current time (which is 1922) which I thought was a bit off. Nevertheless an enjoyable piece of cinema even if it's only for a one time view.

utgard14 Fascinating silent film about witchcraft. The first part of the film, and the most boring, is a slide show about the history of witchcraft. This is fairly dull stuff but thankfully the film picks up afterwards. The rest of the movie is made up of dramatic illustrations of cases of witchcraft throughout the ages. I think there's a lot here for to maintain your interest. Historically, psychologically, dramatically -- there's a lot to chew on. It's definitely one of the weirdest silent films I've seen. It has nice sets and makeup for the period. Lots of striking images, some of which are unsettling even today. I'm not sure how to categorize it. Is it a documentary, a docudrama, or something else? Whatever label you put on it, one thing is for sure: it's worth your time to try it out. The version I saw is the longer DVD version, not any of the shortened versions so I can't comment on those.