Ken Russell's The Devils, released in 1971, was given an X rating by the BBFC but banned on by 17 local authorities, including Surrey, Blackpool, Sevenoaks, Plymouth and Nottingham. THE DEVILS (1971) It is no great shock that this Ken Russell film was banned considering the hefty amount of self-pleasuring nuns, enemas, and generally blasphemous content. Butcher Block is a weekly series celebrating horror’s most extreme films and the minds behind them. Ken Russell's film, based on Aldous Huxley's 1952 documentary novel The Devils of Loudon, was first seen by the BBFC in an unfinished 'rough cut' on 27 January 1971. British historical drama horror The Devils was banned for its obscene sexual scene, where a deformed nun is shown masturbating with the femur of dead hero. The film stars Oliver Reed as Urbain Grandier and Vanessa Redgrave as Sister Jeanne. As a British film released in 1971 with a title like The Devils, Ken Russell’s masterpiece certainly carries a lot of connotations.Since movies of the occult sort were being churned out on a seemingly weekly basis at the time, one might conjure up images of hooded cultists, goat sacrifices, Christopher Lee in drag, and maybe even the devil himself. The Devils is a 1971 historical drama directed by one of my all-time favourite directors, Ken Russell.
The Devils was released in 1971 and was considered too obscene, extreme, and offensive to the Catholic church and was given an X rating and was promptly banned in many areas of the UK. Recently, we shared a clip from Ken Russell’s The Devils, a racy 1971 horror film that’s finally available for streaming on Shudder after years of obscurity. At around the same time, this 'rough cut' was also shown to senior executives from Warner Brothers, the film's distributor. The original 107 minute X-rated British cut of Ken Russell’s controversial film, The Devils (1971) is set to be screened on DVD for the first time in Calgary on October 25 th 2018 as part of the Calgary Cinematheque’s forthcoming season.
5. While some countries banned it outright, others made their own edits, leading to …
The Devils (1971).
The Devils (1971) Movies Ken Russell's crazed stew of sex, violence and religious impropriety in 17th-century France seared the eyes of film censors.
For the first time ever, you can now stream ‘The Devils,’ the 1971 Ken Russell film that critic Judith Crist called a ‘grand fiesta for sadists and perverts.’ “When ‘The Devils’ was released in 1971, it faced harsh criticism and censorship due to its Holy Trinity of intense violence, sexuality, and religious themes.