Hagazussa 2019

The film unfolds across four distinct acts: “Shadows,” “Horn,” “Blood,” and “Fire,” represented in both the rune alphabet of the Elder Futhark and the modern Latin script.

SHADOWS: The story begins with a lonely young girl named Albrun, who resides with her goat-herding mother, played by Claudia Martini, in the breathtaking yet harsh landscape of 15th-century Austria. The mystery of her father’s identity looms over them. A warning from a traveler advises them to head back, fearing the wrath of the Perchta, a malevolent spirit. One fateful night, men disguised in goat skins and horns invade their cottage, accusing them of witchcraft and demanding they be burned alive. Shortly after, Albrun’s mother falls gravely ill and is seen by a doctor, portrayed by Thomas Petruo, and a nun, embodied by Judith Geerts, who despondently deem her beyond help. Left alone to care for her ailing mother, whose state quickly deteriorates physically and mentally, Albrun endures unimaginable trauma. The desperate woman ultimately flees into the unforgiving winter night, leading to Albrun discovering her mother’s lifeless body, surrounded by snakes, the next morning.

HORN: Fast forward fifteen years, and Albrun still inhabits the same isolated cottage, now as a mother to an infant girl, Baby Martha played by Gerdi Marlen Simonn. She faces the same hardships, tending to goats and enduring a perverse intimacy with them. Attempting to sell goat milk in town, she is met with rejection from superstitious townsfolk, who consider her an outcast. A few unruly boys torment her until a compassionate townswoman, Swinda, intervenes. Swinda informs Albrun of a visit from the local parson, Haymon Maria Buttinger, who wishes to share words of faith. During their meeting in the ossuary of the church, the parson hands Albrun a polished skull of her mother, declaring, “To strengthen the faith of a religious community, it requires all sacrilege be cleansed.” In a shocking turn of events, when Albrun attempts to nurse her daughter, she is met with refusal. A series of disturbing encounters lead Albrun to witness the duality of life, as Swinda shares haunting warnings about those without God. Soon after, Albrun becomes a victim of a brutal assault orchestrated by Swinda and a local man, leaving her in a state of fury and desperation. Enraged by the theft of her goats, she poisons the local water source, and later, in a moment of solitude, communes with her mother’s skull.

BLOOD: As Albrun walks through town with her child, she encounters a chilling sight: many corpses are being removed. Distressed, she wanders into the woods to consume a hallucinogenic mushroom, plunging her into a state of psychosis. In this disturbed state, she tragically leads her daughter to a stagnant pond, allowing the infant to drown as she sinks into the dark waters, an eerie calm enveloping her.

FIRE: In the depths of her cabin, Albrun awakens to find a snake slithering over her. Heeding the call of her mother, she approaches the fireplace, horror-stricken to discover her dead daughter—whom she had carried back home. Overwhelmed by grief, she drops the lifeless body into a bubbling soup and, with trembling hands, takes a bite from it, only to be struck with violent nausea. The haunting specters of her mushroom-induced psychosis return in full force, complete with visions of her mother and disturbing laughter reverberating through her mind. Shadows slither menacingly on the walls, compelling her to flee. As dawn breaks, Albrun—eyes clouded with despair—lies down on a scenic mountaintop, meeting her demise as her body ignites in flames under the rising sun.