By: Valentina Toro
Managing Editor
For more than half a century, audiences have not been able to see Ken Russell’s “The Devils” the way he intended. That is finally about to change.
Released in 1971, “The Devils” quickly became one of the most controversial films of its time.
Its combination of religion, sexuality, violence and political corruption was enough to make censors uncomfortable, leading to scenes being cut and different versions of the film circulating for decades. Now, 55 years later, a definitive restoration is finally bringing Russell’s vision back to theaters.
It should not have taken this long.
The new 4K restoration was created from the original camera negative and follows an edit Russell constructed in 2004 with editor Michael Bradsell.
After premiering at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, the restored film will begin a U.S. theatrical release Oct. 16.
The restoration is important not simply because “The Devils” is controversial, but because audiences should be allowed to experience art before deciding for themselves what they think of it.
Starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave, the film follows the persecution of a 17th-century priest accused of witchcraft and explores the relationship between religious authority and political power.
Russell did not approach those subjects subtly. The film contains disturbing religious and sexual imagery that helped create its reputation and resulted in some of its most controversial material being removed.
That imagery will not appeal to everyone. It is not supposed to.
There is a difference between disliking a work of art and preventing people from experiencing it in the form its artist created.
Viewers should be able to watch a film, feel uncomfortable with it, criticize it or even hate it. What becomes troubling is when someone else makes that decision for them.
That is what makes the return of “The Devils” more interesting than the average restoration of a decades-old movie.
Restoring a film usually means improving damaged images and sound or preserving something that might otherwise disappear.
In this case, restoration also means returning something to the film that censorship took away.
It also raises the question of how many works have been judged not entirely by what their creators made, but by what audiences were eventually allowed to see.
Standards change; material considered unacceptable in 1971 may be viewed differently in 2026, but the point is not that modern audiences will suddenly find everything in “The Devils” acceptable. Some probably will not.
The point is that they now have the opportunity to make that judgment themselves.
There is also something fitting about the film returning to theaters rather than simply appearing quietly on a streaming service.
Russell created something visually excessive and deliberately confrontational.
Derek Jarman’s production design, the cinematography and the performances were created for a screen large enough that audiences could not easily look away.
“The Devils” may still shock people 55 years later.
It may offend them, confuse them or make them question why anyone fought so hard to restore it.
But controversial art does not need to become comfortable with age to deserve preservation.
Russell died in 2011 without seeing his definitive version receive a public theatrical release. Audiences are finally getting that chance. They should have had it decades ago.
