Warner Bros.’ new boutique label, Clockwork, is getting off on the right foot. Its first release will be the long-awaited director’s cut of Ken Russell’s The Devils, the historical psychological horror film which was deemed highly blasphemous upon its original debut. Clockwork has released a teaser trailer for The Devils, which will be released on October 16, the first time Russell’s uncut version of the film will screen in theaters.
The Devils
The Devils takes place in 17th-century France, and follows Father Grandier (Oliver Reed), a priest whose unorthodox views on sex and religion influence a passionate following of nuns, including the sexually obsessed Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave). When the power-hungry Cardinal Richelieu (Christopher Logue) realizes he must eliminate Grandier to gain control of France, Richelieu portrays Grandier as a satanist and spearheads a public outcry to destroy the once-loved priest’s reputation.
Due to the graphic portrayal of violent and sexual content, the film originally received an X rating in both the United Kingdom and the United States, and was even banned in several countries. It was also heavily edited, and fans have been eager for the uncut edition to be made more widely available.
The new director’s cut was screened at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.
4K Restoration
This release will be a new 4K restoration, which was assembled from the original camera negative. The film’s sound has been remastered from original English Composite 35mm Mag Film, transferred at 96kHz, plus other original film elements in selected spots as needed. The Picture and Sound restoration was performed by Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services, Water Tower Color, and Warner Bros. Sound. This version runs 1 hour and 54 minutes, which makes it much longer than the edited versions fans have been stuck with for years. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we’ll actually see a physical media release for this, particularly since the film has been hard to find.
British film critic Mark Kermode told Deadline that he spoke with Clockwork’s Christian Parkes and Spencer Collantes in January, but was shocked that they were actually going to make the director’s cut a reality. “Christian and Spencer walk in,” he said, “and I go, ‘Right. It’s Warner Bros., so it’s either The Exorcist or The Devils, but I know for a fact that it’s not The Exorcist. So, what do you want to do with The Devils?’ They said, ‘We really want to do the Director’s Cut, and we think it’s happening.’ I was completely speechless.“
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