Erika Linder (Below Her Mouth) and T’Nia Miller (The Fall of the House of Usher, The Haunting of Bly Manor) have been set to star in the psychological folk horror Häxan, and filming is underway in Sweden, per Screen Daily.
The film is inspired by the “Swedish witch trials of the 17th century, blending psychological horror, relationship drama, and Scandinavian folk horror.“
Linder and Lindsay Hicks co-wrote the screenplay, and BAFTA-nominated Tina Gharavi directs the feature, which is said to explore “fear, grief, misogyny, and confirmation bias through the unravelling of an intimate relationship.“
Moby serves as executive producer and will compose the score.
Hicks, Katherine Fisher, and Erin Stehler are producing for Little Walnut alongside Erin Scolaro for Production Coven. Hicks also produced Jim Queen, set to screen later this month at Fantastic Fest.
The Swedish witch trials and the Malleus Maleficarum inspired the 1922 essay film of the same name, by Danish director Benjamin Christensen.
While the upcoming Häxan isn’t a remake, as it seems to be telling an original story inspired by the 17th-century witch trials, it likely serves as a strong foundational text for the upcoming film. The 1922 film was a technical marvel with themes that still resonate.
Brian Keiper wrote in his retrospective: “Just as Christensen in 1922 and we today look upon the events depicted in Häxan as horrifying, I have no doubt that future generations will look upon our modern superstitious practices, in the various forms they take, and the witch hunts connected with them in their modern guises, and shudder.“