For Letterboxd or Twitter (X):
"The Devil’s Bath: A film so bleak that a beheading feels like a happy ending. Austria’s answer to The Passion of Joan of Arc if Joan was simply very tired and had a bad mother-in-law. Essential, but bring a blanket. 🖤🐦⬛"
For Instagram (Caption):
Imagine the quiet dread of The Witch mixed with the historical misery of The Revenant. Now remove all hope. The Devil’s Bath is a masterpiece of folk horror that argues the scariest thing in the world isn't a demon—it's a lack of options. 🌿🔪 #TheDevilsBath #FolkHorror
The Devil’s Bath is devastating. It is not "entertainment" in the traditional sense. It is a folk-horror thesis statement on how society creates its own monsters. If you liked The Witch or Hagazussa, this will haunt you for weeks.
Rating: 4.5/5 Warning: Contains graphic animal cruelty (historical context) and infanticide. the devils bath
One of the most fascinating aspects of the Devil’s Bath is that it is relatively young in geological terms. Before the 1886 Tarawera eruption, this feature did not exist. The eruption blasted a hole in the earth, which subsequently filled with water. Today, it serves as a visible reminder of the earth's raw power and the ability of nature to create beauty from destruction.
While it looks beautiful, the Devil’s Bath is harsh environment. It is classified as an acid-sulphate spring. This means the water is heated by a deep magma source, but because the rocks below are permeable, the water mixes with rising volcanic gases like hydrogen sulphide.
When these gases interact with oxygen and water near the surface, they form sulphuric acid. Consequently, the water in the Devil’s Bath is highly acidic, with a pH level often well below 3 (similar to vinegar or stomach acid). This acidity prevents most common aquatic life from surviving there, contributing to its "dead" or "hellish" aesthetic.
| Attribute | Details | |---------------|--------------| | Director | Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala | | Screenplay | Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala | | Produced by | Ulrich Seidl, Fatih Akin (co-production) | | Starring | Anja Plaschg (as Maria), David Scheid, Maria Hofstätter | | Cinematography | Martin Gschlacht | | Music | Anja Plaschg (as Soap&Skin) | | Release Date | February 20, 2024 (Berlin International Film Festival) | | Country | Austria / Germany | | Language | German (Austrian dialect) | | Runtime | 121 minutes | | Genre | Historical Drama / Psychological Horror |
True to its name, this geothermal pool looks like a basin of toxic lime-green liquid. The vibrant, otherworldly hue is not dye or pollution; it is a result of high concentrations of arsenic and sulfur. As groundwater seeps deep into the earth, it is superheated by volcanic magma. The water dissolves minerals like arsenic, antimony, and mercury from the surrounding rocks before rising back to the surface. For Letterboxd or Twitter (X):
When the boiling water hits the air, hydrogen sulfide gas escapes, leaving behind a colloidal suspension of elemental sulfur. The arsenic rich water reflects light in a way that produces an unnatural, opalescent green. Early European settlers, seeing this steaming, foul-smelling cauldron surrounded by dead vegetation, believed it could only be a place where the Devil himself would bathe.
Forget jump scares. Forget ghosts. The true horror of The Devil’s Bath is that it is almost entirely real. The Austrian directing duo behind Goodnight Mommy have crafted a slow-burn nightmare set in 1750s Upper Austria. This is not a film about a woman possessed by the devil; it is a film about a woman who wishes she were.
The Devil's Bath
Deep in the heart of the forest, hidden from prying eyes, lay a place of dark legend – the Devil's Bath. It was said that on certain moonlit nights, when the trees creaked and groaned with an otherworldly voice, the very fabric of reality would tear apart, revealing a sight both wondrous and terrifying.
They called it a bath, but it was no ordinary pool of water. The Devil's Bath was a portal, a gateway to realms best left unexplored. Those who claimed to have seen it spoke in hushed tones of its mesmerizing beauty: a shimmering expanse of liquid silver, surrounded by a rim of black stone that seemed to absorb the light around it. "The Devil’s Bath: A film so bleak that
Legends warned of the terrible price one paid for gazing upon the Devil's Bath. Some said that on those who beheld it, the very soul would be unraveled, thread by thread, until nothing remained but a hollow shell of a person. Others whispered that the bath's power could drive a man mad, forcing him to confront the darkest corners of his own heart.
One stormy night, a young traveler named Eira stumbled upon the Devil's Bath. Driven by a mix of curiosity and recklessness, she approached the pool, feeling an eerie pull as if some unseen force was drawing her closer. As she peered into its depths, the world around her began to warp and distort, like a reflection in rippling water.
In that moment, Eira saw the threads of her own destiny unraveling before her eyes. The Devil's Bath revealed to her the darkest aspects of her own nature – the fears, the desires, and the secrets she had kept hidden even from herself. And when she finally tore her gaze away, she was changed forever, haunted by the knowledge of what lay within.
From that day on, Eira roamed the land, a stranger to herself and to others, forever marked by the secrets the Devil's Bath had revealed to her. Some say that on certain nights, when the moon hangs low in the sky, she returns to the pool, drawn by the dark allure of the Devil's Bath, forever trapped in its hypnotic gaze.