Review by christopher-underwood

Over the years I have seen this amazing one several times. The first time it was, Witchcraft Through the Ages and a video which was a rather poor print but considering it being so old I still thought it was incredible. Later on I watched on DVD and narrating by William Burroughs, which was interesting and although the print was better although I preferred the intertitles. This time, thanks to Radiance I have four versions and three different scores and I watched the 'Esoteric Cut'. This was really more or less the same version but so much better than I had ever seen. Later I will watch another and one of The Witch versions. The film itself was made by Benjamin Christensen in 1922 and I understand that he first had several years before had a copy of the 15th century 'Malleus Maleficarum' that had been thought of as a German guide for inquisitors and their witch hunts. Christensen wondered if these hunts had really been of misunderstandings of mental or disorders triggering mass hysteria. And we see some of this. To make this stunning film he used drawings, woodcuts, and paintings and with actors using special-effect make-up and with puppetry, stop motion animation. So even if this sometimes seems a bit slow surely this has never been seen before.