The early silent film is better known today as Witchcraft Through the Ages. In 1968, the movie was reissued with intermittent narration by counter-culture icon William S. Burroughs, the author of "Naked Lunch." A curious jazz score by Jean-Luc Ponty was also added at this time.

Burroughts was not a professional actor at this time, which means his inflections don't necessarily match the script that he is reading. The non-contemporary score simply serves as a distraction.

I have not seen the film in its original Danish format, which may no longer exist. It would be interesting to note how the slide show segments that display Medieval depictions of witchcraft were incorporated into the movie. Perhaps when it was shown in theaters in 1922, a local actor read a script.

Haxan, named after an infamous witch, is both lurid and confusing. The special effects were state of the art at the time, and are charmingly crude. One has to respect the work that went into a dynamic mock-up of the solar system, and a 3-D cardboard illustration with moving parts.

Although the 1968 re-issue attempts to recast the film as a documentary, it was always a dramatization. Either through delusion or the work of the devil (the film tries to have it both ways), seemingly innocent people are compelled to perform evil acts. This, when combined with ignorant fear and superstition, leads to trials run by humorless Catholic clergy.

The monks are seemingly eager to convict anyone and everyone as a witch. Torture devices are shown, and even explained.

But the most lurid aspects involve manifestations of the devil himself. Played by the director, Benjamin Christensen, he is a hideous horned and hairy creature who forces newly recruited witches to kiss his behind. Only in Europe could such a film have been made at that time, as riots could have resulted from any American showings.

More entertaining than coherent, and by no means pro-Church, Haxan is now a relic of both the silent era and the late sixties.