My take: A bit too long but worth watching all of the creepy vignettes about medieval beliefs when it comes to witchcraft and satan.
Häxan, the second film listed in the book Studies in Terror, definitely has some creepy moments. The movie itself is almost like a documentary. The first 20 or so minutes are entirely textual descriptions of medieval beliefs along with images from that time period. It starts to get good, however, when the film starts showing those images acted out on the screen. This leads to some eerie vignettes involving:
The devil in all his creepy glory.
- Witches literally kissing Satan’s ass
- Demons sacrificing an infant
- Satan tempting a lady out of her marital bed
- A witch selling a love potion made from dove hearts and cat feces
Those are just a few of the scenes that stood out.
This is definitely a movie I would recommend to people who want to see some unique early horror. Some of the shots of the witch’s kitchen could also provide excellent inspiration for a haunted house.
I managed to find this movie on youtube (turn on subtitles or much of the film will be useless to you):
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