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Haxan - Witchcraft Through The Ages, Komedia, Brighton, April 30
Banned movies often earn a cult cache they cannot live up to, as anyone who has watched The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
or Driller Killer recently will testify.
But the silent film Haxan, which was banned
in every country in Europe when it was first released in 1922, still has some of the power
to surprise, despite its period quaintness,
especially when accompanied by a live soundtrack from Brighton's own Geoff Smith.
Danish director Benjamin Christensen's film combined historical fact and drama to cover the whole scope of witchcraft history. Starting off
in a staid, documentary style to explain the origins of the myths and legends, the film crossed genres into the medieval tale of a suspected witch and her ordeal with the Inquisition, interspersed with
fantasy sequences and modern psychological
explanations of what may have been behind
the apparent insanity which could destroy whole medieval communities.
Combining the sound of three prototype
hammered dulcimers, effects pedals and his own voice, Smith provided a brilliantly discordant backing to the film, underlying some of its more gruesome elements and picking out sound effects without missing a beat.
It was when the dramatic elements began that his soundtrack really took off, adding a spooky atmosphere to the witch's home, and a few
comic leitmotifs as a townswoman enchanted
an unwitting friar.
The stark reality of the Inquisition's torture chamber was underlined with delay and reverse effects on his dulcimer, while a suspected witch's nightmare was given an unhinged, fairground melody, adding to the dream-like atmosphere.
10:39am Friday 2nd May 2008
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