Monkey Town Presents:
Häxan, Witchcraft Through The Ages

Saturday, October 31st
Admission: $8, $10 minimum
Showtime: 8pm
reservations are recommended

The 1922 classic documentary in six parts
Live score performed by:

Jeremy Slater & Tamara Yadao
A Murder of Angels (Bryin Dall & Derek Rush)
Phil Puleo
Christopher Russo
Maxx Klaxon
Bradford Reed

Narration by William Burroughs

Written and directed by Benjamin Christensen (also appearing as Satan)

One of the most controversial films of the silent era, Häxan is a
dramatized documentary of the practice and persecution of witchcraft
in the middle ages. The elaborate production made it the most
expensive Scandinavian silent film ever made. Although it was
celebrated in its native country, it was widely banned and censored
elsewhere for the elaborate images of Satanism and the Inquisition,
closely following medieval engravings referenced in the film.

Christensen conceived the film as an academic work, seeking to compare
the experience of professed or accused witches to psychiatric patients
of the modern era. For the 1941 re-release, he added an on-screen
lecture, which he delivered in lab coat from a hospital setting.

For this Halloween live score performance, we are screening the 1968
release, which includes William Burroughs narrating many of the
intertitles (allowing us to pare the film down from a demanding 1hr
44min to a more digestible 1hr 4min).

Special thanks to The Criterion Collection