The wait is finally over, folks! 🎉 After being censored for over half a century, Ken Russell’s visionary masterpiece, The Devils, will be back on the big screen in its definitive version on 30 October 2026 📆. And, boy, are we excited! 🤩 Released in cinemas in the UK and Ireland by BFI Distribution in partnership with Warner Bros. Clockwork, this film is going to be a wild ride 🎢. Fully restored in 4K and cut to Ken Russell’s specific direction, KEN RUSSELL’S THE DEVILS is the first publicly released version of the film as intended by the filmmaker 🎬. Fifty-five years after its initial release, the definitive version of THE DEVILS was unveiled at the 79th Cannes Film Festival as an official selection in Cannes Classics 🎥. And, let’s be real, it’s about time! 🕰️ Warner Bros. Clockwork will be releasing the film in all other territories, beginning with the US on 16 October for an exclusive one-week engagement 🇺🇸.
I mean, can you blame them? 🤔 This film is a masterpiece 🤩. Starring the incredible Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave, KEN RUSSELL’S THE DEVILS is a prescient epic of obsession and corruption – and a defining work of art from seminal filmmaker Ken Russell 🌟. Inspired by the true story of 17th-century priest Urbain Grandier, accused of bewitching a convent of nuns 🕷️, the film lays bare the collusion of church and state through a searing vision of religious persecution, collective hysteria, and institutional corruption 🔥.
And, let’s talk about the talent involved in this film 🤩. In addition to powerhouse performances from Reed and Redgrave, KEN RUSSELL’S THE DEVILS showcases the stunning work of artists at the peak of their craft 🎨. We’re talking about Academy Award-winning cinematographer David Watkin 📸, editor Michael Bradsell 📊, and visual artist Derek Jarman 🎭, whose work as production designer marks his feature film debut 🎬. Talk about a dream team! 🤩
Produced by Warner Bros. in 1971, the film received Best Director awards from two of the most prestigious institutions in the world 🌎. Its critical reception in the following decades has only become more impassioned, championed by artists and film historians including Guillermo del Toro and Mark Kermode 🤓. I mean, who wouldn’t love a film that’s been banned for over half a century? 🤫 It’s like the ultimate forbidden fruit 🍎.
Stuart Brown, BFI Director of Programme and Distribution, said, “Ken Russell’s The Devils is one of the great masterpieces of British cinema: a film of astonishing imagination, searing power, and dazzling formal brilliance 🌟.” And, honestly, we couldn’t agree more 🙌. The BFI is thrilled to be partnering with Warner Bros. Clockwork to present the new restoration, which reveals anew the extraordinary artistry of Oliver Reed, Vanessa Redgrave, Derek Jarman, and the many others who collaborated to create a truly singular work 🎨.
Ken Russell was a pioneering Academy Award-nominated British filmmaker, the disruptive visionary behind classics like Tommy, Women in Love, and Altered States 🎸. He directed one Academy Award-winning performance: Glenda Jackson in Women in Love 🏆. And, to mark the centenary of Ken Russell’s birth on 3 July 1927, in July and August 2027, BFI Southbank will present the most extensive retrospective ever mounted of one of Britain’s truly pioneering figures 🎉.
So, get ready to experience KEN RUSSELL’S THE DEVILS like never before 🎥. This cut was originally reconstructed in 2004 under the supervision of Ken Russell and the film’s editor Michael Bradsell, with the collaboration of Mark Kermode and Paul Joyce 🤝. The 4K restoration was completed using the original camera negative at WB Water Tower Color, with audio restoration completed using original composite 35mm mag film at WB Sound 🎧. Warner Bros. Clockwork’s release of KEN RUSSELL’S THE DEVILS marks the first time Russell’s defining masterpiece will officially be made accessible to the public 🎉.
KEN RUSSELL’S THE DEVILS will be released in cinemas in the UK & Ireland on 30 October 2026 📆. And, trust us, you won’t want to miss it 🎥. It’s going to be a wild ride, full of obsession, corruption, and maybe even a few possessed nuns 🕷️. So, grab some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the chaos 🍿. 🎥👻🔥
Finn McFrame, celebrated satirical mastermind and self-proclaimed “Emperor of Irony,” started his illustrious career as a cinematographer, where his expertise in capturing every single frame of a squirrel stealing a baguette earned him accolades at obscure film festivals.
Born in the glamorous town of Boring, Oregon, Finn grew up with dreams of being a Hollywood director until he realized that satire, not cinema, was his true calling—or at least the one that let him sleep until noon.
Finn McFrame: changing the world, one satirical lens flare at a time.
