Warner Bros. is re-releasing a scandalous film, called The Devils. The original content was so bad that the film had to be edited for the general public – and now, after fifty years, the same, unedited original is set to be released in theaters across the U.S. for a week, hosted by AMC Theaters and Regal Cinemas!
The film is a re-interpretation of a historic execution of a French priest, and centers around his illicit relationship with a hysterical nun. The film develops into an inquisition trial with a monastery, in which the sisters take part in a frenzied and graphic orgy and the priest is burned at the stake.
The film was so bad that even the Vatican denounced it at its 1971 release.
According to reports:
“Ken Russell’s controversial film ‘The Devils’ will finally be seen in its original form, as seen in a new trailer for the NC-17 release…”
“‘The Devils’ was originally released in 1971 and, at the time, received an X rating for its highly violent and sexual content. The restored cut, which would premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, will finally show Russell’s original version…
“‘The Devils’ releases in the U.S. on Oct. 16 for an exclusive, one-week engagement with select 35mm screenings…”
(Source: variety .com)
I hate to have to share this information with you, but the film contains many instances of graphic nudity and immoral acts, which is one reason it has its NC-17 rating:
– Several scenes of nude “nuns”
– In one such scene, these “nuns” perform an immoral acts on a crucifix, while one of the priests sins while watching them
– A “nun” committing a lewd act with the bones of a dead “priest”
– A “dream” scene where a “nun” and “priest” sin together
– Besides these, there is nudity throughout the entire film
The NC-17 rating means that the film is so bad that only those under 18 are strictly forbidden from seeing the film.
When this film was first released in 1971, the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatorio Romano described it as “images and sounds of such an obscenity as has never been seen before on the screen in order to accomplish a crude lynching of the Church of yesterday, of today, of all time, as a political instrument of oppression.” (Source: Newspapers .com, of an article from The Des Moines Register, August 1, 1971; emphasis in original)
And even the “cut down” version was so bad that it received an X rating in the U.S., and faced bans, protests, and walkouts. And director Ken Russell called this immoral film “the last nail in the coffin of my Catholic Faith,” as if to mark his departure from religion. (Source: Altered States, by Ken Russell, 1991, Bantam p. 216)
This film is clearly immoral, and has no place in any decent society. Above all it is an attack against God and religion.
Please join us in protesting this immoral film by signing our petition, and then sharing it with everyone you know.