Released in 2017 (festival circuit, wide 2018), Austrian director Lukas Feigelfeld’s Hagazussa: A Heathen’s Curse is frequently compared to Robert Eggers’ The Witch (2015). Both are slow-burn, period folk horror films set in a pre-modern, god-fearing past; both center on young women accused of witchcraft; both are drenched in dread and atmospheric authenticity. However, Hagazussa (an old High German term roughly meaning “witch” or “hedge-rider”) is not a derivative work. Where The Witch is a theological thriller about family disintegration and Puritan paranoia, Hagazussa is a more abstract, elemental, and psychologically corrosive experience—a tone poem about inherited trauma, social rejection, and the disintegration of the self.
is not a film you like ; it is a film you survive . It leaves a residue—a cold, damp feeling on your skin that lasts for days. The word itself, Hagazussa , has become a badge of honor for deep-cut horror fans. If you can sit through the final immolation scene without checking your phone, you have earned a place in the dark congregation of folk horror purists. Hagazussa
The film opens with a young mother, Albrun, carrying her infant daughter (also named Albrun) through a plague-ravished landscape. They seek refuge in a dilapidated hut by a black lake. The mother is already afflicted with a mysterious illness—perhaps the plague, perhaps leprosy, perhaps a demonic curse. She hallucinates a goat-headed demon (a staple of Alpine folklore). After a terrifying night where the mother seems possessed, the young Albrun wakes up to find her mother dead, rotting in the ashes of the hearth. The child is left alone. Released in 2017 (festival circuit, wide 2018), Austrian
The word is an ancient Old High German term that literally translates to "she who rides the hedge". Historically, it is the root of the modern word "hag" or "witch." While it describes a figure of folklore, in modern culture, it is most widely recognized as the title of the acclaimed 2017 German-Austrian folk horror film directed by Lukas Feigelfeld. The Etymological Origins: Riding the Hedge Where The Witch is a theological thriller about
Hagazussa premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival (2017) and received a limited release. Critical reception was sharply divided:
: The Hagazussa was a person who "rode" this boundary. They were often viewed as magicians or healers who could traverse between the human community and the elemental world of spirits and nature.