Create Your Own Silent Film Soundtrack to Häxan (1922) This Spooky Season

In October of 2019, just a couple months after opening their doors, the Sidewalk Cinema in my hometown of Birmingham did something special: They screened The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, one of the very first feature-length horror films, while a local DJ (my good friend Bradford, also a documentary filmmaker) set up in the corner and played a supremely cool live score over this silent film.*

Reader, this was a first for me in a couple ways. For one, I had never seen this seminal film, which is very good and highly recommended, especially if you want to impress your friends by saying things like “German Expressionism.” But also, this was the first time I’d seen a silent film accompanied by a live, uniquely curated score.

Okay, that’s kinda not true.** In October of 2018, I did see the original The Phantom of the Opera at the Alabama Theatre with an original organ score composed and played live by local legend Tom Helms, and that was super rad.*** But organs, majestic instruments though they are, have limitations. A skillful DJ can curate exactly the mood they want from scene to scene, which isn’t easy to do when all you’ve got is keys and pipes.

So you’ll understand my delight when I realized that Häxan, the groovy witchcraft film from 1922 that was dusted off by the Criterion Collection a couple decades ago, seems to be the go-to choice for screenings with a live score this Spooky Season.

For those of you near the Mississippi River, Indie Memphis (one of my favorite film festivals) is screening it Friday, October 21 with a new original score from Alex Greene and the Rolling Heads Orchestra (what a cool name). And for those of you in central Alabama, the aforementioned Sidewalk Cinema is screening it on Friday, October 28 with a live score from DJ Suaze, a great DJ and also a great barber.**** (The Sidewalk screening is free, but you have to reserve a ticket in advance!)*****

But some of you don’t live in Birmingham or Memphis. That’s okay. This is an equal-opportunity newsletter. The good news is that Häxan is readily available on several streaming services and you can watch it at home with your own live score!

“But Jeremy, I’m not a DJ!” you might be saying. That’s okay, I’m not either! But I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to be a DJ in this instance.

Because Häxan is a pretty malleable silent film. It’s more like a really good PowerPoint presentation than a narrative feature. In fact, Wikipedia calls it a “silent essay film,” a term that I’m gonna steal and use at work. There are some dramatic vignettes to be sure, but much of the film is a history lesson on the origins of witchcraft, which means you don’t have to worry about rising and falling action and how they might sync up with a supplemental score.

That means the world of witchcraft is your musical oyster! In the mood for something angsty and dark? Throw on some Nine Inch Nails! Feeling like a dash of metal with your horror vibes? Queue up some Mastodon! Thinking of pairing one of your favorite film scores with this film instead? Press play on some John Carpenter! You could even get crazy and make a whole playlist of different stuff and see what works. This is your opportunity to get spooky and weird, folks, so seize the day (or night).

Heck, you might accidentally stumble into some low-key brilliant audio/visual mashup. Like the first guy who watched The Wizard of Oz while listening to Pink Floyd!****** I can picture it now. Trent Reznor would get so grumpy and deny the whole thing. What a gift.

*I just remembered that this was the 99th anniversary of that film, not the 100th. But also, October 2020 would have been a not great time for such a screening. Can the Sidewalk programmers see the future? What did they know? (Confess, Rachel!)

**Editor’s Note: Hey there, John here. Just wanted to remind you, Jeremy, that this is your newsletter and you don’t have to lie to your readers or contradict yourself in back-to-back paragraphs! You can just write the truth the first time.*******

***The Alabama Theatre does this every year, and you must go at least once in your life if you live in Birmingham. Here’s all the info you need for this year’s event on October 30.

****Sometimes DJs have to have two jobs, you guys. “If you don’t move your feet then they don’t eat,” as Andre 3000 said.

*****Speaking of Sidewalk, you can hear me ramble about movies, hair metal, and other things on the two latest episodes of SideTalks, the official Sidewalk podcast! And I’ll be featured on the next one too! (When will that episode drop? Who knows? I don’t.)

******I have always had a weird dream of layering Carly Rae Jepsen’s Emotion over Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive because deep in my heart I know it would work. (The Deluxe Expanded Edition, plus Emotion Side B and the “Cut to the Feeling” single from that same era, would add up to 93 minutes, which is almost perfect.) I’d probably call it something like I Didn’t Just Come Here to Drive. If you know, you know.

*******I said “kinda,” John.

Häxan is now streaming on HBO Max, Kanopy, and the Criterion Channel, and it is available to rent elsewhere.