It's 1968's Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages, based on 1922's Haxan. I explain how it is different below:
Who knew that there was a 1960’s edit of the 1922 silent quasi-documentary Haxan, narrated by William S. Burroughs, is half an hour shorter but includes an avant-garde jazz soundtrack? I didn’t, until a mutual reviewed the film recently. It was peculiar enough for me to discuss this during Spooky Season. The film is a special feature on the Criterion Blu of Haxan, and was watched by me on the Criterion Channel. I reviewed the OG Haxan in 2019 and it’s a very good treatise on witchcraft and how it was probably mental illness that explained the behavior of those accused of the practice back then.
Truth be told, Burroughs only narrated the opening part of the film-which still presented the historical images of witchcraft-and at random points afterwards. Otherwise, it was the jazz score from Daniel Humair (featuring Jean-Luc Ponty on violin) and English intertitles which are married to the images. This version is only 77 minutes long, almost a half hour shorter than the original Haxan.
Yeah, the original is great as is; the added length is a benefit as is a far more traditional score you’ll likely to find no matter if you watch this on disc, YouTube, or elsewhere. However, if you are already familiar w/ what was released in 1922 and want a different twist which still has the same message about witchcraft, has a score which will be polarizing-but thankfully was liked by me-and contains the same tremendous imagery which hasn’t aged poorly even a century later… I was happy to have viewed this “remix.”
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