A fictional documentary tracing the evolution of witchcraft from its pagan roots to its confusion with hysteria in Eastern Europe.

Cape robbery, torture, possessed nuns and the Satanic Sabbath: in this legendary silent film by Benjamin Christensen, a series of dramatic vignettes trace the history of witchcraft from the earliest days to the present day (in this case 1922). Gothic horror, reconstructive documentary and essay genres are intertwined here, and the film's interconnectedness makes it unlike anything else in cinema history.