Collective sin: ‘The Devil’s Bath’ doesn’t put humanity’s darkness in the shade

You don't have to delve into the supernatural and fantasy realms to find the scariest and darkest stories of our time. They can stem from our history. This is precisely what Austrian directors Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz, known for Goodnight Mommy and The Lodge, uncovered in their latest work, The Devil's Bath. The film is based on a little-known real-life outbreak of proxy suicides that haunted German-speaking regions in 17th and 18th-century Europe.

Historical records revealed a loophole in the area's history of female suicides, a crime considered the gravest by religion as it couldn't be absolved through confession. Some women resorted to unspeakable acts, including the murder of children (believing that the innocent victims would ascend to heaven without confession) with the aim of being apprehended by authorities, sentenced to death, and given a chance to seek absolution from a priest before execution.

'The Devil's Bath' Production Stills