originally posted on tumblr, Mar 28th 2026 

Movie-A-Day-Thon #23: Ken Russell’s The Devils (1971)

Now this is a breach of etiquette for this thing I’m doing, because technically this is a rewatch! I did intend to keep this daily movie watching exercise to new movies to me only, but The Devils come with the very complicated issue that, it was heavily censored and edited over the years, and a lot of it is still considered lost media because, you simply canNOT get yours hands on it. BUT I have found a less censored version than the one I got to see, by like 40 extra minutes!

Back in college I did a paper on movies done during or influenced by the satanic panic of the 60s to the 80s, and that included the nunsploitation genre, so The Devils was a must watch for it. It has been like, over ten years now, so I’ll make an exception for Movie-A-Day-Thon and retackle this movie. I recall how this movie did stand out to me from the other nunsploitation movies on my list, mostly because it had some decent budget compared to the others, and also because it was based on a historical account and not just, well, to exploit the trend. Ba dum tss.

I’m going to do another exception here and tell you, I do not recommend this movie out of principle. Not because oooo controversial movie bad, but because I don’t think this sort of movie needs any endorsement from anyone. I’m not here to convert you into anything movies wise, you do you, and only you know what you’re down for or not. If you’re going to watch this because of some disturbing movies iceberg, then this tier is where you stop and reflect if you wanna keep pulling on the thread of these movies.

Now don’t think that I say this to spook you or to do some reverse psychology dare. There is a lot of visual appeal to this movie after all, the set designs and the costuming, the style and photography, the performances, they are all wonderful! It’s a very good movie! But it sometimes feels like it comes from a rather… I don’t want to say childish place, but I can’t find a better word. It’s a childishness that yes, while sometimes a bit immature and overly dramatic, it’s also deeply earnest and unapologetic. Russell has said this movie was ‘the final coffin on his catholic faith’, and it kind of shows, not only heavy with contempt but quite a bit of resentment. I’ve seen satires with less venom than this, and that’s coming from someone with quite a few hangups with christianity in general! I can’t say it’s an angry movie exactly, but it does feel like the lancing of an old festered boil, and the narrative sure fosters and nurtures that.

As such I can’t quite say that this movie is just doing shock for shock value, cus it doesn’t. I’m also not saying the movie isn’t shocking, it surely has it’s fucking moments. It’s also very theatrical about it all, and leans hard on the fucked upness of it all, becasue it IS a fucked up story in it’s core. A movie about a mass hysteria event made during a time where an actual moral panic was ongoing, by a man working through his own hang ups about Catholicism, is not something to be taken lightly.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, which I think was necessary tackling a movie with such a harsh rep, we can get onto my usual commentary lmao.

It’s hard to talk about only any one character, cus they are all fantastically fucked up. Grandier for example, dude is an improper priest doing improper priests things like secretly marrying and having affairs, but also trying to protect his town in the middle of messy politics, until he finds purpose. Too bad it was the 17th century, witch hunts were getting in vogue, and also he is, I’m sad to report, Oliver Reed handsome. I will not apologize, that man had PRESENCE, and that twirly stache and hair did him wonders. I can’t say I’d stage all that out of jealousy and thirst for him but, damn dude is hot.

I do enjoy the 70s of it all, but most of all the all tiled cloister. Something about all tiled walls and floors are just so striking to me, and it really works for the set design. Something about a cloister being shaped like an actual contemporary prison while the characters are in period clothing just hits. The camera work is also really memorable in this movie, the shot compositions are so effective in both grounding scenes and making them appear ethereal or striking. And the movie overall really goes hard on the clash of ecstasy and physical torment that is rife in Catholicism.

All the tonguing of stigmata is very on brand.

At the end of the day, I no longer have the fortitude or patience for this kind of movie. It’s just A Lot. Gorgeously shot and produced it may be, the critique it offers is just too beaten for me and the lack of sympathy for much of anyone involved feels only callous. It’s all abuse and manipulation and I am tired. This movie just depressed me.