MOVIE NEWS – While Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom is often cited as the most vile and sexually depraved horror film ever made, it ultimately falls short of the sheer, unsettling terror delivered by Ken Russell’s deeply disturbing 1971 feature The Devils. Banned in multiple countries and heavily edited in others, the film fuses Catholic repression, guilt, carnal sin, and sexual excess with supernatural witchcraft and barbaric ritual violence.

Based on John Whiting’s play The Devils and Aldous Huxley’s non-fiction account The Devils of Loudun, the story follows Urbain Grandier (Oliver Reed), a Roman Catholic priest accused of witchcraft by the sexually repressed nun Sister Jeanne des Anges (Vanessa Redgrave). A long-time favorite of horror maestro Guillermo del Toro, who continues to campaign for a new 4K release, The Devils is a film every serious horror fan needs to experience at least once.

The Devils (1971) Was Banned and Heavily Edited Upon Release

Among the most controversial films ever made, acclaimed British filmmaker Ken Russell wrote and directed The Devils for Warner Bros. in 1971. Set in France in 1643, the film delves into the sexual repression and insatiable carnal desires of the physically deformed nun Sister Jeanne des Anges, who harbors an obsessive sexual fixation on the Roman Catholic priest Urbain Grandier.

Once Jeanne discovers that Grandier is engaged in an illicit sexual affair and has entered into a secret marriage, her jealousy turns to rage, leading her to accuse him of witchcraft. The accusation draws the attention of the lust-driven witch hunter Father Pierre Barre (Michael Gothard), who uses the investigation as a pretext to abuse his institutional authority for profoundly debauched and depraved sexual gratification.

Among numerous unspeakable acts, Father Barre administers forced enemas to innocent nuns, persuades a group of sisters to undress together, and conducts a carnally charged exorcism that spirals into a graphically frenzied sexual orgy, complete with crucifix masturbation, two years before Linda Blair, earning the film an initial X-rating.

Because of its extreme, graphically depicted sexual violence that bordered on pornography, the film was banned in several countries throughout the 1970s and required at least three minutes to be cut from the original version in order to secure release. As late as 2001, the film remained banned in Finland.

The Devils Endures as One of the Scariest Films Ever Made

Despite the controversy and censorship, Ken Russell was named Best Director by both the National Board of Review and the Venice Film Festival for his work on The Devils. While much discussion has centered on the depiction of sexual depravity within the Catholic Church, the torturous violence and onscreen carnage inflicted upon Grandier is nearly as disturbing.

Without revealing too much, Grandier’s brutal punishment for his alleged witchcraft also inflicts terrifying consequences on Jeanne. In attempting to destroy Grandier’s life through false accusations, the deformed nun seals her own horrific fate when she is declared insane and committed to an asylum. Once the shock of the film’s devious psychosexual violence subsides, viewers are left to confront the grim reality that women who spoke out within the Catholic Church in 17th-century France faced severe punishment.

As excessive as the sexual violence and torturous stake-burning in The Devils may be, the film’s most frightening aspect is that it is based on the true story of the Loudun Possession of 1634. Considering that such atrocities genuinely occurred centuries ago within the Catholic Church, The Devils remains one of the most terrifying religious horror films ever put on screen.

Source: MovieWeb