The film uses still photography of archival prints, animations and horror movie style dramatizations in a documentary study that proposes how superstitions and misinformation of mental illness lead to persecutions and civil unrest such as the Inquisitions and other witch-hunts of the past.
There are five chapters to the film each building the case of how the human need to provide supernatural, or worse superstitious, answers using faulty reasoning when confronted with the uncomprehensible or not understandable leads to paranoia, injustice and an ultimately sick society.
Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922) -- 240p, silent with English subtitles
The above version is best viewed while playing the "ULTIMATE WITCH HOUSE PLAYLIST" created by YouTube user futureextinguisher -- also on tumblr: witchgate
Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922) -- Criterion Collection Version
360p version with musical score and original Scandinavian titles -- no English subtitles
