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The Devils
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - Japan - Orustak Soft Review written by and copyright: James-Masaki Ryan (26th July 2025). |
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The Film
 "The Devils" (1971) Filmmaker Ken Russell was no stranger to controversy by the time he directed "The Devils", but this was the film that caused the most problems, being censored in various forms and banned in a number of countries. The film was initially announced and funded by United Artists, but after the executives read the script and saw the explicit natures that was to be depicted, they decided to pull the plug. Warner Bros. Pictures agreed to continue the production and have it distributed, but they felt they demanded cuts to the film before it could be released to the public. Various cuts were made by Warner Bros. for the film to receive an "X" certificate in the UK by the BBFC. Some nudity and graphic violence were removed as well as half of the orgy sequence dubbed "The Rape of Christ" in which the crazed nuns pull down a statue of Jesus and have their way with it in an orgy. Another short sequence of Sister Jeanne handling the charred femur of Grandier was also removed. The X certificate UK theatrical version ran 111 minutes. For the United States, Warner Bros. trimmed it even further for an R-rating, which removes most of the nudity and some violence, while also using some alternate footage to replace more explicit shots. This version ran 109 minutes. This was also distributed in some other countries, including Japan, though it also went to further censor nudity with optical blurring of pubic hair and/or genitals. There was another further cut version released in America, when the film was issued on VHS with a runtime of 103 minutes. In 2004, a reconstructed "Director's Cut" was assembled using material from the Warner Bros. vaults and approved by Russell. While this 117 minute version was screened, it was quickly buried by Warner Bros. and was never released on home video or streaming. Missing on DVD or Blu-ray in any legal form, the BFI in the UK worked out a deal with Warner Bros. to release the original UK theatrical version on DVD in 2012. (They tried to negotiate a Blu-ray release, but Warner Bros. would only supply them with a standard definition master for DVD.) This was the first time the 111 minute cut was available on home video as previous UK VHS releases had the further censored US version. Since then, there has been no movement on the release of the director's cut, but a surprise came from Japanese home video label Orustak Soft, with a runtime listed as 113 minutes, which was longer than any other official home video release so far. In addition, it would be released on both Blu-ray and DVD formats with a touted "HD Master" and for the first time the film was released on any digital format in Japan. Rather than a review on the film itself here, this is about what this Orustak Soft release has and how it compares to the BFI DVD release. The question fans of the film are asking is "Is it worth getting?" and frankly the quick answer is "No". Note this is a region ALL Blu-ray / region 0 NTSC DVD set
Video
Orustak Soft presents the film in the original theatrical 2.35:1 aspect ratio in 1080p AVC MPEG-4 on the Blu-ray and in anamorphic 2.35:1 aspect ratio in the NTSC format on the DVD. First of all, what exactly is this version of the film? Basically it is the original 111 minute UK theatrical version plus two scenes spliced back in. The first scene takes place from 75:33 to 77:40 and is dubbed "The Rape of Christ" in full. The second takes place from 109:23 to 109:48 and is dubbed "Grandier's Femur". There is about 2.5 minutes of additional footage reinstated for a runtime of 113:39 on the Blu-ray. In addition, one other difference between the Japanese release and the UK DVD release is that the Japanese release does not start with the Warner Bros. Pictures logo (which was not a period version but one from the 2000s). The UK DVD has this logo at the start. Other than that, the original film credits and Warner Bros. logos on the credits themselves are identical on both releases. Other censored material from the 2004 director's cut such as mor explicit shots of Grandier's torture and such are not included. As for the transfer, it seems to be taken from three different sources and unfortunately none of them are ideal. For the majority of the film it seems to be an upscale of the SD master from Warner Bros. that was made available for the BFI DVD, but in the 24fps format. We certainly have been spoiled by 4K restoration transfers for classic films over the last few years (and also with the BFI's recently released 4K UltraHD of Russell's "Women in Love" this month) and Russell's films have always been a visual spectacle with colors and scenery. The upscaled master looks bland in comparison. Colors look much more drab, blacks are crushed with little detail to be found in darker portions, and sharpness is flawed with a softer edge around everything. The abstract and visually breathtaking sets designed by Derek Jarman are not as clear and crisp as they should, and straight lines as seen in the bricks can look a bit zigzagged on close inspection. In fairness, it is not a bad looking transfer, as it is clean with few examples of film damage to be found, it seems like one is watching a DVD but only slightly better. As for the reinstated footage, they come from two different sources. The Rape of Christ scene seems to be taken from an analog tape source of lower quality, as the colors and sharpness drop dramatically when the scene comes into play. Colors are washed out, detail is slightly blurry, and the image is also slightly windowboxed with thin black bars also being visible on the sides. Damage marks are not too prevalent in this scene, but it is very noticeable that it came from a different source and there was no color correction or other work done to try to level the differences in quality. The femur scene near the end is taken from what seems to be a 35mm film print source and has thicker and darker colors than the rest of the main feature. In addition, print damage is more prevalent with some speckles that have not been removed. Unlike "The Rape of Christ", this is properly framed in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio without any windowboxing. While it might be the longest version available at the moment on a home video format, the Japanese release suffers from censorship not by cuts to the film but optical censorship. There is a lot of frontal nudity both male and female in the film and this release has added some digital blur to genitals and pubic hair. It's not done particularly well, as some of the female nudity is partially blurred while at other times the censor forgot or felt the hair was too far in the background. On the other hand, the male nudity almost looks like a brown blob on screen to make things a bit sexist in balance. While the blurs themselves are colored mostly to match the surrounding skin or pubes, it is almost laughable to see it in motion and is actually much more distracting for audiences. The packaging has the Japanese rating of R-15 on the packaging, and Orustak Soft could have gone the R-18 route and gone the uncensored route (Japanese censorship laws are a bit confusing regarding frontal nudity when it comes to non-Japanese productions), but having an R-18 on a title would make it difficult to stock on physical store shelves as well as online retailers. In addition, in very small print on the back of the inlay it states in Japanese that due to the age of the film there may be some portions that may not be up to the quality standards of modern transfers. This is a common copy and paste seen on many DVD and Blu-ray of releases. Below are some screenshots comparing the Japanese Orustak Soft DVD (which uses the same "HD Master" as the Blu-ray) and the UK BFI DVD releases. Note that due to the differences in NTSC and PAL resolutions, the UK screenshots are larger due to the PAL format. There are also two screenshots with scenes exclusive to the Japanese release at the bottom. Note the differences in image quality and in framing. 
Audio
English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono The Blu-ray offers both lossless and lossy mono audio options. The DVD copy offers only the lossy audio option. Unlike the picture, the sound is on the better side, with dialogue, music, and effects being clear and clean. During the reinstated scenes there is a slight shift, with the orgy scene being slightly more muffled and the femur scene being mostly clean but very slightly crackly. Both lossless and lossy tracks seem to mastered from the same source. There are optional Japanese subtitles for the feature in a white font.
Extras
DISC ONE (Blu-ray) "Director of Devils" 1971 featurette (21:47) This excellent vintage featurette by Warner Bros. looks at the film in production, from the construction of the sets, interviews with Russell and other members of the production, B-roll footage, footage from the recording studio for the soundtrack and more. Warner seemed to know that they had a controversial work on their hands and the narration does not shy away from that aspect, making it a selling point. in 1080p AVC MPEG-4, in 1.33:1, in English Dolby Digital 2.0 with optional Japanese subtitles Original US trailer (0:53) A short US trailer with critics quotes. in 1080p AVC MPEG-4, in 1.78:1, in English Dolby Digital 2.0 with optional Japanese subtitles Trailer (1:38) This is a newly edited trailer by Orustak Soft to promote their Blu-ray and DVD release. It has also been embedded below. in 1080p AVC MPEG-4, in 1.78:1, in English Dolby Digital 2.0 with burned-in Japanese subtitles Photo Gallery (5:11) Presented here is an automated slideshow gallery of behind the scenes stills, promotional photos, and poster designs with music accompaniment. in 1080p AVC MPEG-4, Music Dolby Digital 2.0 Bonus Trailers - "Ginger & Fred" (1:19) - "Espion, lève-toi" (1:31) - "Mon oncle" (1:08) - "Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson" (2:19) - "Zapped" (0:51) Presented here are a number of Orustak Soft Blu-ray & DVD trailers playing back to back. They cannot be individually selected. They are presented in their original languages, with burned0-in Japanese subtitles in 1080p AVC MPEG-4, in various aspect ratios in various languages, in Dolby Digital 2.0 with burned-in Japanese subtitles DISC TWO (DVD) "Director of Devils" 1971 featurette (21:46) Original US trailer (0:53) Trailer (1:38) Photo Gallery (5:11) Bonus Trailers - "Cheeky" (1:04) - "Ginger & Fred" (1:20) - "Espion, lève-toi" (1:31) - "Mon oncle" (1:08) - "Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson" (2:19) - "Zapped" (0:52) The DVD copy has all the same extras as the Blu-ray but has an additional bonus trailer for the film "Cheeky". The UK BFI DVD was a 2-disc set that had the featurette and US trailer found on the Japanese release, and also had an audio commentary with Ken Russell, Mark Kermode, Mike Bradsell and Paul Joyce (recorded for the director's cut and trimmed for the DVD's UK theatrical cut), a 2012 introduction by Mark Kermode, "Amelia and the Angel" a 1958 short film directed by Ken Russell, the original UK trailer, the documentary "Hell on Earth: The Desecration and Resurrection of 'The Devils'" (in a shortened form to remove "The Rape of Christ" scenes but extended with additional interview footage of Russell), on-set footage from the production with commentary by film editor Mike Bradsell, and a 2004 Q+A session with Ken Russell moderated by Mark Kermode, at the NFT.
Packaging
The Blu-ray and DVD are housed in a blue keep case with single sided artwork. The packaging states region A only for the Blu-ray and region 2 only for the DVD but this is false, as the Blu-ray is region ALL and the DVD is region 0. Orustak Soft has also released the film separately in a single disc Blu-ray edition and a single disc DVD edition. All three releases have the same artwork, though the dual format set is the only one to have both Blu-ray and DVD logos on the front and technical specs for both discs written on the back.
Overall
"The Devils" is one film that fans of cinema have clamored for years for the director's cut to be released as it sits on the Warner Bros. shelves, This Orustak Soft release may have the longest version available and for the first time on the Blu-ray format worldwide, it unfortunately does a bad job of reinstating two scenes from less than adequate sources as well as most of the film being transferred from an upscaled standard definition master. Coupled with the nudity being optically censored, it really comes as a disappointment as it is still an incomplete version. Amazon Japan link - dual format version Amazon Japan link - single disc Blu-ray Amazon Japan link - single disc DVD
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