The Devils Finally Unleashed: 55 Years of Censorship, Controversy, and the Fight to Restore Ken Russell’s Masterpiece

After more than half a century of censorship, missing footage, and elusive home-video releases, Ken Russell’s notorious 1971 film The Devils is finally coming to 4K UHD and Blu-ray in its definitive, uncensored form on April 20, 2027.

There are controversial films, there are banned films, and then there is Ken Russell’s The Devils.

For more than five decades, Russell’s feverish exploration of religious fanaticism, sexual repression, and institutional corruption has occupied a peculiar place in cinematic history. It is a film that has been simultaneously celebrated as a masterpiece, condemned as blasphemous, mutilated by censors, and effectively withheld from generations of moviegoers.

For horror fans and film historians, The Devils has become something of a Holy Grail. Not because the film itself was entirely impossible to find, but because seeing it as Russell intended was another matter altogether.

Now, 55 years after its original theatrical release, that long and frustrating history is finally approaching a resolution.

Warner Bros. Clockwork, in partnership with the British Film Institute, has officially announced that Ken Russell’s The Devils will arrive on April 20, 2027, in two editions: a three-disc 4K UHD and Blu-ray Collector’s Edition and a standard 4K UHD release.

For a film that has spent decades fighting against its own distribution history, the announcement is nothing short of monumental.

The Film That Was Too Much for 1971

Released in 1971, The Devils stars Oliver Reed as Father Urbain Grandier, a charismatic 17th-century French priest whose defiance of political and religious authority makes him the target of a campaign of persecution.

Vanessa Redgrave portrays Sister Jeanne, a sexually repressed nun whose obsession with Grandier becomes entangled in allegations of demonic possession, eventually fueling an outbreak of mass hysteria.

Drawing inspiration from Aldous Huxley’s The Devils of Loudun and John Whiting’s stage adaptation, Russell constructed a film that was as much an indictment of institutional power as it was an exercise in cinematic provocation.

And provoke it did.

Russell’s vision included grotesque religious imagery, graphic torture, sexualized religious rituals, and sequences deliberately designed to challenge the relationship between organized religion and authority.

The film’s production design, created by a young Derek Jarman, transformed 17th-century France into a surreal landscape of white stone, towering architecture, and oppressive institutional grandeur.

Combined with Reed’s ferocious central performance and Redgrave’s disturbing portrayal of obsession, the result was a film that refused to offer audiences the comfort of conventional historical drama.

Unfortunately, Warner Bros. and the British film censors were considerably less enthusiastic about Russell’s confrontational approach.

A Film Butchered Before Audiences Could See It

The censorship of The Devils began before the film ever reached theaters.

In January 1971, the British Board of Film Censors examined an unfinished version of the film. Warner Bros. executives also reviewed the material, and both parties demanded changes.

What followed was an extraordinary series of negotiations, edits, and compromises.

Scenes involving sexual activity, religious imagery, torture, and violence were shortened or removed entirely.

Among the most infamous casualties was the sequence commonly referred to as the “Rape of Christ,” depicting a group of nuns engaging in a frenzied act of sacrilege involving a crucifix.

Another controversial passage involving Sister Jeanne and a charred bone from Grandier’s remains was also removed.

These weren’t simply moments of gratuitous spectacle. Within Russell’s larger narrative, they represented the grotesque intersection of religious repression, political manipulation, and sexual hysteria.

Removing them altered the film’s imagery and thematic intensity.

The British theatrical version eventually received an X certificate in May 1971, but the damage had already been done.

And American audiences would receive an even more heavily edited version.

Warner Bros. made additional cuts for American distribution, creating another distinct version of a film that had already been substantially compromised.

The result was a release history in which audiences on opposite sides of the Atlantic weren’t even necessarily watching the same movie.

The Long Road Through VHS, Television, and DVD

As the home-video revolution took hold, The Devils remained an unusually difficult film to experience in anything approaching its intended form.

Early British VHS releases used the shortened American version rather than the longer British theatrical edit.

The situation improved somewhat during the 1990s.

A television broadcast in 1995 and subsequent home-video classification in 1997 helped return the longer British theatrical version to circulation.

But the most controversial material remained missing.

Then came a breakthrough.

During the early 2000s, film critic and historian Mark Kermode helped bring attention to recovered footage previously thought lost.

The rediscovered material was featured in the 2002 documentary Hell on Earth: The Desecration and Resurrection of The Devils, directed by Paul Joyce.

More importantly, it helped make possible a reconstruction of Russell’s intended version.

In 2004, working with Russell, editor Michael Bradsell, and collaborators including Kermode and Joyce, a reconstructed director’s cut was screened at London’s National Film Theatre.

For the first time in decades, audiences could experience a version that restored some of the film’s most notorious missing sequences.

But there was a catch.

Despite the reconstruction, this version did not receive a conventional home-video release.

In 2012, the British Film Institute finally issued The Devils on DVD, a welcome development for collectors who had spent years hunting down increasingly elusive copies.

Unfortunately, the release contained the 1971 British theatrical cut rather than the reconstructed 2004 director’s cut.

It also remained a standard-definition DVD release.

For collectors accustomed to seeing even obscure cult films receive elaborate Blu-ray restorations, the continued absence of Russell’s definitive version was increasingly difficult to understand.

The film had been rediscovered, reconstructed, and celebrated.

Yet its most complete authorized version remained largely inaccessible.

2026: The Devils Returns to Theaters Uncensored

The turning point finally arrived in 2026.

A newly restored 4K presentation of The Devils premiered in the Cannes Classics program at the Cannes Film Festival, bringing Russell’s definitive version back to the international stage.

The restoration was assembled using the original camera negative, with work completed at Warner Bros. Water Tower Color. The soundtrack was restored from original 35mm magnetic audio elements at Warner Bros. Sound.

Crucially, the restoration referenced the version reconstructed under Russell’s supervision in 2004.

Warner Bros. Clockwork subsequently launched the film in American theaters on October 16, 2026, initially as a limited engagement.

The British Film Institute followed with a theatrical release in the United Kingdom and Ireland on October 30, 2026.

The response demonstrated something distributors had seemingly underestimated for decades: audiences genuinely wanted to see The Devils.

The restored film generated significant interest, including sold-out screenings and strong specialty-box-office performances. Its American theatrical availability was subsequently extended beyond the initial engagement.

Perhaps most significantly, the British Board of Film Classification approved the reconstructed version uncut with an 18 certificate.

After 55 years, the film that had been considered too inflammatory for audiences in 1971 was finally receiving an official theatrical release in the form its director had sought to preserve.

April 20, 2027: The Home-Video Release Fans Have Waited Decades For

The latest announcement represents the final major piece of this extraordinary restoration story.

On April 20, 2027, Warner Bros. Clockwork will release Ken Russell’s The Devils on 4K Ultra HD, marking the first official Blu-ray and 4K UHD availability of the definitive director’s cut.

Two editions have been announced.

The Devils 3-Disc Collector’s Edition — $76.66

The centerpiece of the release is a three-disc 4K UHD and Blu-ray Collector’s Edition featuring all three major versions of the film:

• Definitive Director’s Cut: 114 minutes
• Original UK X-Rated Version: 111 minutes
• American R-Rated Version: 108 minutes

The director’s cut will be presented in 4K UHD with a newly restored monaural soundtrack.

All three versions will also be available on Blu-ray.

The package includes more than 14 hours of material, including an extensive collection of newly produced and archival supplements.

Among the highlights are:

• The unedited 2004 commentary featuring Ken Russell, Michael Bradsell, Mark Kermode, and Paul Joyce
• A newly extended version of Hell on Earth: The Desecration and Resurrection of The Devils
• A new interview with Guillermo del Toro
• Previously unseen archival interviews with Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed
• A newly remastered 4K presentation of Russell’s 1958 short film Amelia and the Angel
• A previously unseen extended scene
• Archival trailers and the 2026 theatrical trailer
• Behind-the-scenes restoration material
• A 96-page book featuring production photography, archival materials, and essays

For collectors interested in the complicated history of the film, the inclusion of all three cuts is especially important.

Rather than simply replacing the censored versions, the collection preserves them alongside the definitive reconstruction, allowing audiences to examine how the film changed as it passed through the hands of distributors and censorship boards.

The Devils Standard 4K UHD Edition — $36.66

A less expensive standard edition will also arrive on April 20, 2027.

This release contains the definitive 114-minute director’s cut in 4K UHD, along with selected supplements.

Those extras include the 2004 audio commentary, a new Guillermo del Toro interview, archival behind-the-scenes footage, a 2004 Russell and Kermode Q&A, and theatrical trailers.

For viewers primarily interested in finally owning the restored film, the standard edition offers a significantly more affordable option.

Both editions are available for preorder now through major retailers.

For additional information and UK preorders, visit the British Film Institute’s official announcement.

Is This Really the Complete, Uncut Version?

There is an important distinction worth making.

The new release is officially described as the definitive, uncensored director’s cut, reconstructed under Russell’s supervision in 2004.

However, that doesn’t necessarily mean every frame originally photographed in 1971 has survived.

Some material removed during the original censorship process, including brief moments of violence and nudity, is believed to be irretrievably lost.

The 114-minute reconstruction therefore represents the definitive version approved through Russell’s restoration work, rather than a hypothetical assembly of every scene and shot originally filmed.

That distinction matters, particularly given the decades of confusion surrounding the various versions of The Devils.

It also makes the restoration no less remarkable.

For the first time, the version reconstructed with Russell’s participation is receiving a major, officially sanctioned home-video release.

Why The Devils Still Matters

It’s tempting to reduce the history of The Devils to a simple story about shocking imagery and offended sensibilities.

But doing so overlooks what makes Russell’s film so enduring.

Beneath its hysteria, blasphemy, and grotesque excess lies a disturbing examination of how institutions manipulate fear to consolidate power.

Grandier’s destruction isn’t merely the result of religious fanaticism. It is the culmination of political ambition, institutional hypocrisy, and the willingness of powerful individuals to weaponize public hysteria.

The film’s imagery may be outrageous, but its underlying ideas are disturbingly recognizable.

This is also why the decades-long struggle to restore The Devils feels so appropriate to the film itself.

A work about the suppression of dissent and the corruption of authority spent more than half a century struggling against institutions that controlled how audiences could experience it.

There is an irony there that Russell himself would likely have appreciated.

Filmmakers such as Guillermo del Toro have spent years championing the film, while critics and preservationists continued advocating for its restoration and release.

Now, those efforts have finally produced a tangible result.

The Devil Gets His Due

Ken Russell died in 2011, long before this restoration could receive the wide theatrical and home-video release it deserved.

He did, however, participate in the reconstruction that made the current release possible.

That connection makes the upcoming editions especially meaningful.

This isn’t simply another catalog title receiving a 4K upgrade. It’s the culmination of a preservation effort spanning decades, one that involved recovering missing footage, reconstructing an intended edit, navigating distribution restrictions, and convincing a major studio to revisit one of its most controversial properties.

For horror fans, cult-film enthusiasts, and anyone concerned with the preservation of cinema, the arrival of The Devils on 4K UHD is a significant event.

After 55 years, the film is finally escaping the shadow of its own censorship history.

Ken Russell’s The Devils arrives on 4K UHD and Blu-ray April 20, 2027. Both the Collector’s Edition ($76.66) and Standard Edition ($36.66) are available for preorder now.

Some films become notorious because of what they show.

Others become notorious because of what audiences were never allowed to see.

The Devils managed to become both.

Sources: British Film Institute; BBFC censorship history; Warner Bros. Clockwork 2026 restoration and home-video announcements.