NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Radiance Blu-ray (October 2024): Radiance have also transferred Benjamin Christensen's Häxan to 1080P Blu-ray amd it is cited as a "2K restoration by Svensk Filmindustri, presented with three optional scores, by Matti Bye (2006), Bronnt Industries Kapital (2007), and Geoff Smith (2007)". The 1080P image quality is very similar to the 2019 Criterion (see comments below) - both with max'ed out bitrates and from the same 2016 restoration - also exported at 20-frames per second.   

NOTE: 70 more full resolution (1920 X 1080) Blu-ray captures for Patrons are available HERE.

On their first Blu-ray, Radiance use DTS HD Master 5.1 surround track for the Matti Bye score and 2.0 channel (or lossy Dolby) for the alternate versions on the second Blu-ray. There are the Danish intertitles with optional English subtitles (note below.) Radiance's two Blu-ray discs are Region FREE.

So the first disc has the 106-minute restored version of Häxan, featuring a score by the Swedish pianist and composer Matti Bye. You also get a new audio commentary by Guy Adams and A.K. Benedict (The Evidence of Ghosts.) They talk about this being Benjamin Christensen's third film, the language of cinema and fill the film's running time with observant comments. I quite enjoyed their conversation. We also get on that disc a 1968, 77-minute, alternate cut of the film features narration by William S. Burroughs, with additional footage, and soundtrack by, French jazz musician (violin and keyboards) and composer, Jean-Luc Ponty - also found on the Criterion. Repeated from the Criterion is the 8-minute introduction filmed in 1941, nearly 20 years after the release of Häxan, where director Benjamin Christensen reflects on the film and the era of silent filmmaking. Also included is a dozen-minute reel of test footage shot by Benjamin Christensen in 1922. You can see scenes for Häxan, Hævnens nat (Night of Revenge) and other work by the filmmaker. Radiance add 2-minute of recently discovered footage from 1922 featuring Christensen screen-testing the costume for a Satanic figure. Recorded exclusively for Radiance in July 2024, we get 1/4 hour of director Guillermo del Toro reflecting on the influence and legacy of Häxan, and on Benjamin Christensen's achievement with the film. For Satan - The Convert's Guide to Haxan is a new, irreverent and thought-provoking 12-minute visual essay by Vito A. Rowlands, author of the BFI Film Classics edition of Häxan that explores the themes and historical context of the film.

On the second Blu-ray Radiance include a 105-minute restored version of Häxan, featuring a score by Bronnt Industries Kapital - a musical project from Bristol, England based around producer and multi-instrumentalist Guy Bartell. This version can also be played with a score by Geoff Smith. Smith earned his BA in Music from the University of Nottingham before an MPhil in Electronic Music from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Composition from the University of Huddersfield (where he was supervised by the composer Gavin Bryars). Radiance also include the 85-minute "Häxan - the Esoteric Cut" which is an alternate cut featuring English intertitles and soundtrack by, Georges Méliès' great great grandson, Lawrence Leherissey who is a French composer specializing in silent films and has been a piano accompanist since he was 18 years old. Also included on this disc is Witchcraft Through the Ages - sourced from an original 1990 VHS copy. It is an alternate, 82-minute, French cut of Häxan featuring narration by the Parisian actor and singer (born 1938), Jean-Pierre Kalfon. The package has a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by 'Time Tomorrow', six postcards of original promotional stills and a limited edition 80-page book featuring new writing by Pamela Hutchinson (Pandora's Box -Die Büchse der Pandora - BFI Film Classics), Daniel Bird, Kat Ellinger (Daughters of Darkness - Devil's Advocates), Brad Stevens (Monte Hellman: His Life and Films) plus archival writing and extracts from the press book. 

Häxan is unique - part informative documentary on demonology + superstitions surrounding witchcraft, notably in medieval culture, and part fictional dramatized storytelling sequences including treatment of suspected witches. It has impressive effects, shocking visuals and a marvelous, unforgettable, conclusion. Not only an embraceable 'Silent-Era' masterwork but the primordial-soup of cinema horror. It was hailed in Scandinavia but other countries objected to the graphic depictions including torture, nudity, sexual perversions, and an overall critical view of church-based leadership. The 2-disc Radiance Blu-ray package advances upon the 2019 Criterion with a new commentary, multiple versions and different scores, visual essay, Guillermo del Toro, booklet, art cards and more. This is easily the definitive home theatre edition of Benjamin Christensen's Häxan and it will get many votes in our year-end poll. Our highest recommendation! 

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ADDITION: Criterion Blu-ray (September 2019): Criterion have transferred Benjamin Christensen's Häxan to 1080P Blu-ray via a "New 2K digital restoration". As you can see most of the tints are gone - sticking with a sepia hue for indoors and blue for outdoors. The 1080P seems to have resolved the 20 fps 'combing' we could occasionally see on the older SD transfer. Although frames are duplicated to counter the original production frame-rate - it is seamless in-motion. Detail, especially later in the film, is highly remarkable (you can plainly see the make-up) in close-ups. I never would have though Häxan could have looked this stunning. The HD presentation is significantly more immersive.  

NOTE: 28 more full resolution (1920 X 1080) Blu-ray captures for Patrons are available HERE.

On their Blu-ray, Criterion use a DTS-HD Master 5.0 channel track (24-bit). On the score: "Silent films were seldom seen in actual silence—and huge "cinema palaces" often featured chamber orchestras. For the Criterion Collection's 2001 release of Haxan, film music specialist Gillian Anderson attempted to recreate the music played at the movie's Danish premiere at the Palads Teatret theater on November 7, 1922, basing her score on a list of musical cues printed in the theater's weekly program notes. For this recording, she conducted the Czech Film Orchestra in Prague in June 2001." Criterion offer optional English subtitles for the Swedish intertitles (that have changed from the DVD - see sample below) on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Criterion Blu-ray has the same extras as their DVD from 2010. Repeated are the excellent commentary from Danish silent film scholar Casper Tybjerg who covers so much in the films 1 3/4 running time especially interesting is the details on Benjamin Christensen’s life. It was still fascinating to revisit it. Another major supplement is the seventy-six-minute version of Witchcraft Through the Ages; a version of Haxan released in 1968, representing one of several cinematic collaborations between avant-gardists Antony Balch, Brion Gysin, and William S. Burroughs, who performed the voiceover narration on the film. Daniel Humair composed the jazz score, which features, among others, Jean-Luc Ponty on violin. There is an 8-minute introduction by director Benjamin Christensen from the 1941 re-release. Repeated are the 5 -minutes of Outtakes and the 15-minute Bibliothèque diabolique, created in 2001 by film scholar Casper Tybjerg, a collection of images that elucidate some of the historical sources director Christensen drew on to make Häxan. The package has liner notes with an essay by critic Chris Fujiwara, remarks on the score by Anderson, and an essay by scholar Chloé Germaine Buckley.

***

ON THE DVD (2010): The Swedish Film Institute’s restoration of Häxan began with the creation of a fine-grain master made from the original camera negative. The intertitles, most of which had been lost, were replaced with new film titles. Then, the SFI recreated the tinting that had originally been present in theatrical prints of Häxan, bringing this version much closer to what audiences might have seen at the time of its original release.

Criterion's new digital transfer was made from a 35mm low-contrast print, at the Swedish Film Institute’s recommended speed of 20 frames per second. During shots of rapid motion, there is a “tracer” effect; this is present in the original film image. If not for this knowledge I would have said that this was the first non HD-sourced Criterion DVD I had ever seen, but the "combing" that I saw is the 'tracer' effect due to the frame speed noted above.

You can't really have any fault with the image once you become aware of the detail and effort that went into producing this print. It shows damage - yes, but at time it looks remarkable as evidenced by the screen captures below. The audio 5.0 mix makes the experience a truly haunting one and the DVD is rife with extras including the 76 minute 1968 version and a commentary on the feature. Again Criterion goes above and beyond.

Gary Tooze