Set in the Austrian Alps during the 15th century, the film is divided into four chapters—Shadows, Horn, Blood, and Fire—following the life of a woman named Albrun. Was Hagazussa a folk horror disguised as schizophrenia?
Years later, Albrun is a mother herself, still living in the mountains and tending to goats. She remains an outcast, subjected to the cruelty and sexual violence of the local villagers. Hagazussa
Unlike the stereotypical broom-flying witch of the Renaissance, the Hagazussa is closer to the classical "shaman" or "night-hag." She is a creature of solitude, plague, and raw nature. This distinction is vital to understanding the 2017 film, because Feigelfeld does not make a movie about Satanic pacts or black magic spells. He makes a movie about a lonely woman dissolving into the landscape. Set in the Austrian Alps during the 15th
3.5/5 or 7/10. A confident, beautifully made, but deliberately alienating film. She remains an outcast, subjected to the cruelty
Over centuries, the term lost its nuanced meaning of "boundary-crosser" and became a pejorative label for those accused of witchcraft and devilry. Hagazussa: A Heathen’s Curse (2017)