Tickets Are Only Available via BFI London Film Festival Website from Tuesday 17 September 2026 10:00am: Click Here To Book

Censored for over half a century, Ken Russell’s film returns in a landmark director’s cut reconstruction that reveals the full power of his original vision.

Inspired by the true story of 17th-century priest Urbain Grandier, accused of bewitching a convent of nuns, The Devils lays bare the collusion of church and state through a searing vision of religious persecution, collective hysteria and institutional corruption. The restoration many believed would never happen reaffirms Russell’s incendiary masterpiece as among the most overwhelming and uncompromising achievements in British cinema.

Assembled from original camera negative, this 4k restoration is Ken Russell’s 2004 preferred edit. Picture and sound restoration by Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services, Water Tower Color and Warner Bros. Sound.