‘The Devils’ Finally Gets Uncensored 4K Release After 55-Year Wait

Ken Russell’s notorious 1971 masterpiece The Devils is finally getting the home entertainment release collectors have spent decades waiting for, with Warner Bros. Clockwork and the BFI set to issue the definitive uncensored director’s cut on 4K UHD for the first time on 20 April 2027.

The release follows the recent theatrical return of the restored version, which opened in UK and Irish cinemas on 30 October through BFI Distribution, and arrives 55 years after Russell’s film first ignited controversy with its feverish mixture of religion, sexuality, political paranoia and institutional violence.

Two editions will be available, led by a three-disc 4K UHD and Blu-ray Collector’s Edition containing all three principal versions of the film together for the first time. Alongside the 114-minute director’s cut, the set includes the 111-minute UK X-rated version and 108-minute US R-rated cut, with more than 14 hours of material spread across the discs.

The definitive version was originally reconstructed in 2004 under Russell’s supervision alongside editor Michael Bradsell and Mark Kermode. The new restoration was completed from the original camera negative at Warner Bros. Water Tower Color, while the soundtrack has been restored from original 35mm magnetic elements.

Oliver Reed stars as charismatic priest Father Grandier, whose position in 17th-century Loudun becomes increasingly precarious when Vanessa Redgrave’s Sister Jeanne develops an obsessive fixation on him. Accusations of possession and witchcraft soon become weapons in a wider political and religious campaign, allowing Russell to turn historical spectacle into a ferocious examination of power, hysteria and repression.

The Collector’s Edition also digs deeply into the film’s complicated history. New material includes an extended version of the documentary Hell on Earth: The Desecration and Resurrection of The Devils, a previously unseen extended scene, a new Guillermo del Toro interview, an expanded conversation with Kermode about the film’s reconstruction and archival interviews with Reed and Redgrave.

Further extras include Russell’s 1958 short Amelia and the Angel newly remastered in 4K, a compilation of camera slates, behind-the-scenes material, archival Q&As, costume sketches by Shirley Russell, the 1971 featurette Director of Devils and a 96-page book containing new essays, production material, archival interviews and previously unseen photography.

The standard 4K UHD edition will also feature the restored director’s cut alongside selected new and archival extras, including the unedited 2004 commentary with Russell, Bradsell, Kermode and Paul Joyce, Del Toro’s new interview and the 2026 theatrical trailer.

Originally released in 1971, The Devils won Best Director honours for Russell from both the Venice International Film Festival and the U.S. National Board of Review, while its reputation has only grown in the decades since. The film has been championed by filmmakers and critics including del Toro and Kermode, even as its censorship history has helped make its complete form notoriously difficult to see.

Ken Russell’s The Devils will be released in the UK and Ireland on 20 April 2027. The three-disc Collector’s Edition carries an RRP of £59.99, while the standard 4K UHD edition is priced at £29.99. Both editions are available to pre-order now.

The Devils trailer