Ken Russell's The Devils has spent 55 years without a proper home video release. Earlier this week, Warner Bros. Clockwork announced that this is over. The uncensored director's cut arrives on 4K UHD on April 20, 2027, and a three-disc collector's edition puts all three versions of the film on Blu-ray for the first time.
The details
Release date: April 20, 2027 (pre-orders are open now)
Label: Warner Bros. Clockwork (the BFI handles the UK and Ireland, same date)
Collector's Edition: 4K UHD + 2 Blu-rays, $76.66 MSRP The Devils Collector's Edition 4K UHD + Blu-ray pre-order (AFFILIATE)
Standard Edition: single 4K UHD disc, $36.66 MSRP The Devils standard 4K UHD pre-order (AFFILIATE)
Cuts: Director's Cut (114 min, NC-17), UK X-rated cut (111 min), US R-rated cut (108 min)
What the Collector's Edition adds
The 4K disc carries the director's cut, encoded by Fidelity in Motion with a restored mono soundtrack. The second disc has all three cuts on Blu-ray, and the third is a bonus disc. Clockwork lists more than 14 hours of material and a 96-page book with essays by Mark Kermode and Linda Ruth Williams.
The extras that stand out:
A never-before-seen extended scene
An extended cut of the 2002 documentary Hell on Earth: The Desecration and Resurrection of The Devils
A new Guillermo del Toro interview
Archival interviews with Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed
Shirley Russell's costume sketches, with commentary by Victoria Russell
The unedited 2004 commentary with Russell, editor Michael Bradsell, Kermode and Paul Joyce
What the standard edition leaves out
It's one 4K UHD disc with the director's cut and roughly four hours of extras. You still get the 2004 commentary, the del Toro interview and the 2004 Q&A with Russell and Kermode. You don't get the other two cuts, the extended scene, the longer documentary or the book. The listed contents also don't include a Blu-ray, so you need a 4K player.
Ken Russell in 2008. Photo: DiVicenzo / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Featured image: Warner Bros.
Which one to buy
The story of The Devils is largely the story of its cuts, so the collector's edition is the one that makes sense if that history interests you. Being able to compare the censored versions with the director's cut is the whole point. The $40 difference buys those two cuts, about ten more hours of material and the book. If you only want the best-looking version of the film and own a 4K player, the standard edition covers it.
The restoration is worth the upgrade either way. It was done from the original camera negative at WB Water Tower Color, with audio restored from the original 35mm mag film at WB Sound. The cut itself was reconstructed in 2004 under Russell and Bradsell. We caught the restored version in theaters last month, and you can read our review of The Devils.
This is the first post in our new Blu-ray & Physical Media section. We'll be covering new announcements, preorders and street dates every Tuesday and Friday. And if you're building a collection in the meantime, Terminal City Collectibles, our Vancouver shop, carries used movies and other physical media.