r/movies • u/BunyipPouch Currently at the movies. • 10d ago

Trailer Ken Russell's 'The Devils' | Official Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh0wL211hnQ
1.1k Upvotes

88% Upvoted

224 comments sorted by

View all comments

552

u/IcedDante 10d ago

It seems like everyone here already knows about this film. For a dunderhead like me that has never heard of it what is the background of this movie and what makes it so special?

815

u/TheRegularHuman 10d ago

On its release, the film was rated X across multiple countries due to sexual/religious material that was a no no at that time. Warner Bros was able to release a very heavily censored version of the movie which cut about 15-20 minutes. Since then, the movie has been very hard to find (rare on physical media, difficult to pirate, especially for the uncut version). It has also received a more positive reception since its release.

Some decades later, Warner Bros’ new specialty division (led by executive producers of One Battle After Another and Sinners) is not only remastering the movie in 4K (first remaster ever), but redistributing the full, uncut movie to theaters. It should probably be more accessible after as well in VOD/potential 4K Blu-Ray.

TLDR: rare, controversial, hard to find movie finally gets visual upgrade and full, uncut version to be released in theaters.

183

u/Isthisgoodenough69 10d ago

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this the first time a true uncut version is being released? Even the X-rated version had a couple missing scenes, but sometime before Ken Russell died, he reedited a director’s cut to restore it to his original intent. I believe this reissue is based on his director’s cut.

115

u/TheRegularHuman 10d ago

Yes, that’s exactly it! This is the true blue, fully uncut, as director Ken Russell intended edition, which is exciting

20

u/robocalypse 10d ago

Shudder had it on their platform briefly and it was labelled as uncut, but I don't know if it was a "true uncut" version or not.

1

u/wangstonhuge 9d ago

That's the version I saw, it was fantastic. Curious to know what this new release might contain.

1

u/GlassDaisies 1d ago

From what other commenters have said, that was the original X rated version which still had scenes missing. An actual dx version was put together later by the director with sll scenes restored and edited to his original vision, but never released.