Häxan - Witchcraft through the ages is a truly legendary and infamous film. Häxan was banned in the USA and heavily censored in other countries when first released in 1922.

Häxan was one of the first drama-documentaries, integrating fact, fiction, objective reality, investigation, delusion and hallucination. The film's mixture of narrative methods is astonishing for its freedom and audacity. Film Director Benjamin Christensen's uninhibited and experimental style endeared Häxan to the Surrealists: it's transfused with humour: a witches' brew of the horrific, gross, and darkly comedic.

The way in Häxan investigates superstition, mysticism, paranoia, conspiracy theories, misogyny, prejudice, manipulation and exploitation eerily captures and exposes what in essence is the same poison that has been re-released, transposed and commoditised by ‘social media’ in the mass psychology of the here and now in the 21st century.

Benjamin Christensen uses a series of dramatic episodes to explore the hypothesis that the 'witches' of the Middle Ages suffered the same mass hysteria as did the mentally ill in the early 20th century. Moreover, Häxan has a freshness and timelessness that retains a powerful and shocking resonance in the 21st century: this is a moving, disturbing but also ultimately liberating study of the persecution of the mentally ill, women, the poor and the elderly.

Smith's score has been inspired and led by Christensen's genius. The director is simultaneously painter, historian, political psychoanalyst, horror guru and pioneering filmmaker. The film comprises inspirational direction, virtuoso camera work, innovative lighting techniques and absolutely astounding special effects that were decades ahead of their time and which are all the more impressive when viewed from a 21st century perspective.

For the Häxan soundtrack Smith uses the microtonal ‘Fluid Dulcimer’, a fully chromatic dulcimer with a unique tuning layout and a customised diatonic dulcimer with an extended bass section. The Fluid Dulcimer, invented by Smith, incorporates ‘Fluid Tuning’ mechanisms which enable adjustable microtonal tuning on each note individually and separately. It would have been impossible to compose and perform the Häxan soundtrack without the Fluid Dulcimer.

Geoff Smith's new score for Häxan is a revelation in the composition and performance of live music for film. Now for the first time. Häxan - Witchcraft through the ages a classic of world cinema, has a musical soundtrack worthy of its place in the history of film. This immensely dynamic score illuminates Christensen's aesthetic obsession, his wildly imaginative investigation of the paradox of the persecution of superstition by superstition, the juxtaposition of horror with dark humour and the ultimate triumph and liberation of the spirit.

"The witch no longer flies away on her broom over the rooftops. But isn't superstition still rampant amongst us? Is there an obvious difference between the sorceress and her customer then and now? We no longer burn our old and poor, but do they not suffer bitterly?
And the little woman who we call hysterical, alone and unhappy, isn't she still a riddle for us? Nowadays we detain the unhappy in a mental institution or - if she is wealthy - in a modern clinic."
Benjamin Christensen (1922)

Media Reviews

"It's a tribute to Smith that his music was able to bring this wonderful movie to life." The Financial Times

"A wildly atmospheric soundtrack…” *****
The Scotsman

"The musical equivalent of splitting the atom." The Guardian

"This isn't just an innovative soundtrack, as its echoes positively enhance the melancholic and menacing moods of this intense, psychological
masterpiece." BBC Radio Times

"A fascinating combination of disturbing images and otherworldly sounds which yanks the tradition of silent movie accompaniment spectacularly back to the future. Smith is a virtuoso percussionist who has revolutionized a forgotten instrument." The Sunday Times

"The Hammered dulcimer has been waiting for someone like Geoff Smith to come along." Fiona Talkington, BBC Radio 3.

"Like the famous Roy Budd theme for 'Get Carter', or the zither music from 'The Third Man' but stripped down and fed through a haunted house, the music draws out the peculiar textures and angularities of the story with
real precision." The Big Issue

Critic’s Choice
Time Out