The book that killed 50,000 people — and we're still burning witches today.
Between the end of the Middle Ages and the late 18th century, over 50,000 Europeans were persecuted, tortured and executed on charges of witchcraft. The pogrom was triggered by the book 'Malleus Maleficarum', published in 1486. Its detailed instructions for persecuting and annihilating alleged witches triggered a mass hysteria.
Acting
Tschorn's Kramer: bureaucratic evil incarnate.
Direction
May balances detached analysis with visceral reenactments.
Production
Painstaking period detail makes the past feel present.
Director
Roland May
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 'Malleus Maleficarum' was initially rejected by theologians — its later adoption reveals how power, not piety, drove persecution.
Director Roland May specifically cast women as accused witches and men as their accusers to mirror the historical gender asymmetry — the historian commentators provide the only male 'victim' voice in the entire film.
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