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The DevilsAKA: The Devils of Loudon, Los Demonios, Las diablas, Les Diables, Die Teufel, Der Teufel Von Loudun, Os Demonios(1971) Director: Ken Russell Cast:
Synopsis: Ken Russell, of inflamed and zealous vision, captures the hysteria of an early 17th century witch-hunt with The Devils, as adapted from an Aldous Huxley novel. The late Oliver Reed exercises a powerful charm as Father Grandier, a priest made governor of the fortified French town of Loudon. Grandier falls foul of Cardinal Richelieu (Christopher Logue) and King Louis XIII's (Graham Armitage) establishment when he refuses to remove the city walls around the self-governing Loudon, straight away the authorities set about finding an excuse to remove him as the town's governor. The womanizing Grandier doesn't take his vow of celibacy at all seriously so a reason for his ejection isn't difficult, but a mother superior, bitter due to her unfulfilled desire for Grandier, supplies the determined evidence against him to fanatical witch-hunter Father Barre (Michael Gothard). The hot-blooded Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave) claims Grandier possessed her with demons, and sexually abused both her and the Ursuline nuns in the town's convent. She is naturally taken at her word, and after the inquisition, Grandier is tortured, tried, and executed before the entire town for consorting with the devil. The rest is a near comic frenzy of fire, screams and naked nuns, vividly choreographed against Derek Jarman's splendid sets. Review by Rod Zombie: I thought at the beginning of the movie that it would be the priest taking advantage of the nuns, as in so many other movies like this. But it wasn't long before it became apparent that this wasn't like other movies. There were public exorcisms, orgies, some spectacular scenes of sacrilegious debauchery and a particular sequence showing the duality of the Church at that point in time. Read More... Review: Quite arguably this is Ken Russell's masterpiece. It is horrifying not only in content and realization, but it is horrifying because it so accurately captures the most depraved, most base, shadow side of humanity. "The Devils" is unparalleled in its delineation of the extremes people go to in order to preserve belief systems and in its exposure of abuse of power. Foucault and Bateson, eat your heart out. Read More... Review: Review this film! If you've seen this movie and would like to contribute a review, please send it to reviews@nunsploitation.net Trailer: View the downloadable trailer for The Devils. Runtime: 111 mins. Note: It's difficult to find the full 111 minute version of this film. Most releases are offered with varying cuts. The Warner Bros. version cut many scenes of violence and nudity. Further cuts were made in the Warner-reissued "R" rated home video version. This version is perhaps the most common, distributed in the US, UK and Japan. More violence, nudity, torture and gore were removed. It is interesting to note that the 111 minute version was aired in 1995 on the BBC-2's "Forbidden Weekend". The DVD version released by Spazmondo, the version offered through HKFlix, is advertised as 108 minutes and is, perhaps, the most complete version that will ever be commercially available. Please be aware that the Spazmondo DVD is an unofficial release. Some fans may want to wait for an unofficial Warner Bros. version.
Ken Russell's The Devil's is now available DVD from HKFlix!
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