Hagazussa Has Me Seeing Red

Hagazussa has been billed as a “pagan death trip”, folkloric horror, and even in some circles feminist horror. I challenge all of that.

I was sitting in my favorite bar in Chicago’s North side on two separate occasions, enjoying a manhattan, when I was told by two different men (who do not know each other, so far as I am aware) that I “should really go see” Hagazussa. The German horror film had come up for me before in various film circles. Folks who knew I liked “witch shit” thought its fresh take on the subject matter would be up my alley. Plus it’s in German!

I was suspicious. I am exhausted of men directing films about witches (with the exception of the beautifully handled Brujos, which employs queer theory into a story of gay male witches and was shot in Chicago). While there are some exemptions, I’m also tired of them trying to tackle coming of age as a woman.

I pointed out to both dates that women did not write or direct Hagazussa, just as they had not been involved in the writing or direction of cult hit The VVitch. They admitted they had not realized that, and therein lies the largest problem. The only folks checking whether films were directed by people who may have experienced what they’re depicting are people who have experienced what is being depicted. Witch stories are about people who have been classified as “other” and often inherently about the worst part of femme experience, but they’re continuously tackled by populations who have not been othered as a woman.