Every film-nerd needs the book I got last Christmas… 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.  The only joy greater than filling out the checklist of how many of the 1001 you’ve seen (for the record I’ve seen 189 of them) is discovering all the hidden gems within that you’d otherwise never have heard of.  Example – a 1923 Danish silent film called Häxan.

Seventy-six years before Blair Witch and eighty-six years before Paranormal Activity this film about witches blurred the lines between “documentary” and “horror.”  Presented as an educational film about witches based on historical archives, Häxan makes its case against the kind of “dark ages” superstition that led to belief in witches and the unfortunate persecution of anyone suspected to be a witch.  But it does so with several scenes of witchcraft as the director proposes people in the dark ages would have imagined them.  By using this clever approach he was able to do a film about witches that appeared “educational” due to its dismissal of the superstition of our ancestors, but is still a scary macabre horror film about witches.  So if you’re in for something a little unconventional this Halloween (or just need some interesting background visuals for your party) go check out Häxan.