A 55-Year-Old Film That Offended Everyone Is Back—and This Time It’s a Hit

Warner Bros. has authorized a 4K Blu-ray restoration of The Devils' NC-17 director's cut, marking the first legitimate home-video release of the uncut version in decades. The 1971 historical drama, starring Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave as a priest and a nun caught in a witch-hunt frenzy, was condemned by the Catholic Church, heavily censored by the BBFC, and effectively buried by Warner Bros. after its initial X-rated release. For 55 years, the film survived only in truncated cuts and bootlegs, gaining a reputation as a 'lost masterpiece' of transgressive cinema.

The Wall Street Journal frames the release as a cultural reversal: a film that 'offended everyone' in 1971 is now positioned as a prestige title. HD Report and Bloody Disgusting detail the technical specs — a new 4K scan from the original camera negative, supervised by the BFI and Warner Archive — while IMDb confirms the release window. The Limerick Post's film column notes the shift from moral panic to curatorial reverence.

Pre-orders open this month for a late-2026 street date. The release includes both the director's cut and the theatrical version, plus documentary extras on the censorship battles. No theatrical reissue has been announced.