The Devil's Bath (German: Des Teufels Bad) is a 2024 historical horror drama film written and directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, and starring Anja Plaschg.

An international co-production between Austria and Germany, the film tells the story of Agnes, a young married woman, who does not feel at home in her husband's world.

The film cuts to night, slowly panning up the body of the now decapitated woman sitting in a chair, her head in a cage behind her.

She stumbles across a drawing posted on a tree, detailing the woman throwing her child down the waterfall and her subsequent execution.

Agnes wakes early and makes it to a pond where Wolf works as a fisherman before everyone else in hopes of catching some fish, but gets stuck in the mud.

The next day, the priest gives a sermon to the town and explains that Lenz cannot be buried because suicide is a sin and what he did is worse than murder.

Agnes is locked in a cell and gives confession to the priest, admitting that she no longer wishes to live in this world, but wanted absolution before she died.

A young girl in the crowd recognizes the song and sings along with her until it ends abruptly as the executioner beheads Agnes with a sword.

The film is based on the historical research of Kathy Stuart[6] who reconstructed the practice of "suicide by proxy," a novel crime that was common in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in German-speaking Central Europe and Scandinavia.

The perpetrators hoped that after repentance, confession, eucharist, and religiously framed public execution, they would achieve salvation.

[2][11] In January 2022 last schedule of filming was done among other places, at the Neuenberg castle ruins near the town of Scheel in the municipality of Lindlar in the Oberbergisches Land.

[13] The Devil's Bath had its world premiere on 20 February 2024, as part of the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, in Competition.

The critic consensus reads "A squirm-inducing period piece that locates true horror in both mind and spirit, The Devil's Bath might be Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz's most chilling directorial effort yet".

[19] Jessica Kiang reviewing in Variety said, "If the story is so pitilessly bleak you may want to look away, the filmmaking craft is so compelling that you can’t.

"[20] Susanne Gottlieb reviewing the film at Berlinale for Cineuropa wrote, "The Devil’s Bath is a movie that will stick with the viewer for a while, as it’s a drama drawing on the rich horror background of Franz and Fiala, while also emancipating itself from the genre they became famous for.

"[21] David Rooney reviewing the film for The Hollywood Reporter dubbed it as "Not horror but still plenty horrific," and opined, "While it’s punishingly grim and has some pacing issues, this is a gripping psychological study by directors operating with formidable command.

In August 2024, it was selected for nomination to 37th European Film Awards to be held at Kultur- und Kongresszentrum Luzern in Lucerne on 7 December 2024.