The Devil-s Bath ❲2027❳

In this era, suicide was considered a mortal sin. If you killed yourself, your soul was damned to hell forever, your body was desecrated, and your family’s property was often confiscated by the state. However, if you committed murder and then confessed your sin with true contrition before execution, you could be forgiven and go to heaven.

★★★★½ (4.5/5)

Therefore, countless deeply depressed women—suffering from what we now recognize as postpartum depression, seasonal affective disorder, or clinical melancholia—committed brutal murders. They killed children, usually those in their care, because they believed it was the only way to save their own eternal souls . The Devil-s Bath

Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s latest film is not a traditional horror movie. It’s something far more disturbing: a true-crime period piece about the agony of being a woman with no way out.

The Witch , Hagazussa , Saint Maud , or The Piano (but if The Piano ended in a nightmare). In this era, suicide was considered a mortal sin

If you go into The Devil’s Bath (German: Des Teufels Bad ) expecting jump scares or a demonic possession, you will be disappointed. But if you want a film that will lodge itself under your skin and fester—a slow, suffocating descent into historical truth—then directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala ( Goodnight Mommy , The Lodge ) have delivered a masterpiece of quiet dread.

Fast pacing, gore for gore’s sake, or a clear hero/villain dynamic. Have you seen The Devil’s Bath ? Did you know about this historical practice? Let me know in the comments—I’m still processing. ★★★★½ (4

Let’s talk about why this is one of the most unsettling films of the year, and why you’ll be thinking about it for weeks. Set in rural Austria in 1750, the film follows Agnes (an astonishing Anja Plaschg, aka musician Soap&Skin), a deeply sensitive and pious young woman who marries a cold, indifferent farmer. She dreams of a loving, romantic partnership. Instead, she gets a silent husband, a domineering mother-in-law, and a life of back-breaking labor, mud, and prayer.