A magazine I was reading a few years ago made reference to a film by the film director Benjamin Christensen in 1922 ....
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| Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages |
The film (supposedly a 'documentary' ... like the nudist films of the 1960's) was called Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages, and was described as having some shocking scenes of the devil, cannibalism and baby sacrifice, especially for the times.
The article failed to mention that this film was before the Hays Code self censorship, and that there had been quite a bit of film nudity and other stuff back then, that was only stamped out after 1934.
In truth I had completely forgotten to chase the reference up, but a chance mention of the pre-Hays code films on the radio, reminded me to get off my butt and look that movie up. Now I expect that you can get it streamed, but I don't subscribe to any TV streaming channels (I don't have enough time to watch endless TV shows .... my recorded shows overwhelm me as it is), so I had to look at a preview clip.
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| Scene From Häxan |
What can I say but WOW ... its got some very strong images, including very realistic torture scenes (thumb screws, leg breakers, witch burnings etc), full nudity and devil worshipping, that could put most modern horror films to shame, certainly those 1960's and 1970's Hammer films such as Dracula A.D. 1972, and To the Devil a Daughter (and the non Hammer - The Devil Rides Out) ..... in fact so strong are some of the images (especially the torture shots), that I didn't feel able to post them on this general interest news and views blog (and we have shown some fairly strong images in the past in case of the middle east).
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| The Häxan Devil |
However it has to be said, that the lighting and cinematography for the film were fantastic, and the Häxan Devil himself most interesting .....
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| Häxan Coven Scenes |
However I suspect that its still not half as creepy as the most notorious film from this pre-Hays code era which was "Freaks" in 1932 ..... a film that used real carnival sideshow 'freak' characters in it, as both extras and main parts. It would probably never be shown on TV these days (although it has been on at least once in the past, as I watched it), but for the fact that as discussed on another post, we now feature exactly those same sideshow freaks on TV in the guise of 'reality' medical TV shows.
They hide them in plain sight. The fat woman carnival tent show? .... My 600lb Life. The midget tent attraction? .... Little Women LA, or the modern day geek show? .... Body Bizarre (and shows that include spider children with multiple limbs, children with tails, Siamese twins etc).
There is truly nothing new or shocking under the cinema sun ......
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