The Remastered Trailer Gives Ken Russell’s The Devils a ‘70s-Style Edge
The controversial — and frequently censored — 1971 drama returns to theaters this October.
As a potential merger with Paramount looms over the studio, Clockwork seems to be in a hurry to take advantage of Warner Bros.’ legendary vaults as much as it can, for as long as it can. Last month, the newly announced sub-label — headed by former NEON executive Christian Parkes — made an announcement that knocked the film world backwards: Ken Russell’s The Devils, a film that has been the subject of controversy and censorship since before it debuted in theaters back in 1971, would be re-released as “the uncut and unfiltered theatrical experience that Russell always envisioned.”
This was a huge deal for lovers of outré cinema — it’s difficult to think of a film produced by a major American studio whose distributor has tried as hard to keep people from seeing it as The Devils. And it’s not because the movie is bad, either; the trailer for the new restoration includes quotes calling The Devils a “masterpiece” and “a Holy Grail for film lovers,” referencing the fevered cult that has grown up around Russell’s film. The reason is because The Devils, for a time, appeared genuinely dangerous to the status quo.
We won’t break down how The Devils earned this reputation here, although it is detailed in Inverse’s previous coverage of the re-release. Suffice to say that the Catholic Church had some problems with the movie, as did censors in the U.K. — where the film was shot — and abroad. In this respect, while it is an extreme example, The Devils is typical of its decade: The ‘70s were a time of major shakeups in the movie industry, led by films like Taxi Driver and Dog Day Afternoon that took a confrontational approach to challenging cultural and political norms.
This initial trailer builds on The Devils’ taboo religious themes, using the unsettling laughing of nuns combined with Oliver Reed’s urgent prayer to invoke the furor around The Exorcist when it was first released — on the day after Christmas, no less — back in 1973. The black background and insistent, pulsing music, meanwhile, recall the marketing campaign for Paul Schrader’s 1979 film Hardcore, which used similar techniques to tease that film’s shocking, transgressive sexual content. The legacy of both films is still powerful, and undoubtedly something that’s being appealed to here:
Also on display in the trailer, however briefly, is Warner Bros.’ new restoration of The Devils, an in-house job that re-added three previously lost-ish minutes to the most recent 111-minute cut of the film. From what we can see, the restoration lacks the distinctive tint that you get from many European restorations, instead emphasizing the blindingly white light that shines down on Vanessa Redgrave as she ominously looks towards the camera. If you’ve never seen The Devils, you might think that it’s a horror movie based on this trailer alone — and honestly, you wouldn’t be that far off.
