Denmark/Sweden
Length: 87 minutes
Director: Benjamin Christensen
Cast: Elisabeth Christensen, Astrid Holm, Karen Winther, Maren Pedersen, Ella La Cour, Emmy Schonfeld, Kate Fabian, Oscar Stribolt
Eric's Impressions: To start off, this is one of the strangest films you will ever see. We didn't know what to make of it for the first half-hour as we were so throughly confused. Now I know film purists will get angry at what we did next, but so be it as this is our blog and our rules. On the DVD we rented from Netflix was a condensed version of the film that shortened it by about 10 minutes, so no big deal. The coolest thing about this version from the late 1960s was that it was narrated by none other than William S. Burroughs and also featured a jazzy score. We started the movie over again and now I couldn't stop laughing because of his low-growling voice along with the the cheesy jazz score set to stories of witches, grave robbers and the devil. Watching nuns kiss the bent over ass of Satan in one scene is fascinating in itself, but add in Burroughs talking over it and jazz music is pure movie magic. This horror/documentary from Denmark is completely original and that's something that should be applauded in contrast to the formulaic American-directed fare of the time.
Natalie's Impressions: While maybe not the weirdest film I have ever seen, it definitely is among the top five and I am sure before we are finished with this book of 1,001 movies, I will have seen other films that give this one a run for its money. The 1968 version that we saw was even more quirky primarily because of the ill-fitting jazz music score that made watching this odd film an even more discombobulating experience. To top it all off of course was Burroughs coming in at odd times not only to narrate but to subtly add his own interpretation of the events unfolding on the screen. As if the viewer needed more explanation of what was happening, Burroughs helpfully tells us at one point that what we were seeing were witches "kissing the ass of the devil." Amen to that.
COUNTDOWN: Just 989 movies to go!
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