HAGAZUSSA: A HEATHEN’S CURSE (2017) MOVIE REVIEW

«Hagazussa» a witch’s tale that falls between psychological horror and paranormal terror

«Hagazussa» is one of those movies that cooks slowly. Like all good food you have to wait for the reward after the whole process. You have a good chef, good ingredients and the best cookware, but the recipe is incomplete. The end result in this case is somewhat tasteless. It’s not bad but you don’t serve yourself seconds. All production values along with the directing was tremendously wasted by a dull script. It could have been one of the great films of the decade, however it falls short and goes home only with a participation trophy.

The main focus of the story

A Witch’s tale that falls between psychological horror and paranormal terror. It feels that does not know exactly what it wants to be. It takes us into the life of a woman in the 15th century: «Albrun» Jung (played by Celina Peter) who lives a tragic life after being condemned for being the daughter of a supposed witch. From the outset, they live the rejection and persecution of the people.

By living in seclusion, mother and daughter have to endure the vicissitudes of a life away from society. Which leads to the high point of the first act: the death of the mother.

This event when she was very little leaves Albrun growing up alone, causing the belief that she is a witch among the villagers. Strange as the preceding events may be, Albrun (now an adult) appears more vulnerable with a newborn baby and the call to follow the path of the witch. This genetics is the main conflict. The human side is accentuated thanks to a friend of hers who seeks her out and tries to make her part of society, and on the other hand, the appearances of the specter of her mother who tries to take her on the side of the witch.

 It can be understood from the point of view of some villager as to why Albrun can be considered a witch but the narrative is from her point of view, and instead of being scary it sometimes becomes a bit sad. «Hagazussa» does not have a compelling story or theme. What works effectively is that the idea of living alone in the mountains in that period of time could be a terrifying experience, especially if you are a woman.

Strange species

Witchcraft and everything related to the witch’s lore are seen as secondary events and have no relevance to the story. The focus is directed more towards the internal conflicts of a witch and not the actions of a witch. The type of terror that is shown is more accentuated by the atmospheric, silent, and grotesque environment and the threat that something lurks in the dark or in the quietness.

The highlight is that the audio production is excellent, the sound is what predominates the most and takes the film to another level (it is advisable to listen to it with good speakers or good headphones and preferably in the dark of the night.

Conclusion

Seeing director Lukas Feigelfeld’s work as a failure is not accurate. On the contrary, everything he did with so little is a great achievement. The problem is that he is the one who writes the script. The big flaw is the interest that such a simplistic and unnecessarily long plot can arouse.

We are not against a slow narrative but when the narrative does not go hand in hand with something that keeps the viewer intrigued, the slowness can affect a movie too much. Few dialogues and extremely long scenes without any narrative factor is what prevails and in the end, it only remains in a good pretense. The directing and performances are also magnificent, but without a good script it does not go very far and it only remains what could have been.

Delirium Score