I knew absolutely nothing going into watching The Devils other than the fact that it was directed by Ken Russell. Altered States is such a great film that I figured “Sure, I can watch another Ken Russell work.” The beginning seemed extraordinarily well acted with great visuals. I was starting to think “Wow this is an impressively directed movie that has all of the components of great filmmaking.” Well quite a lot happens in each moment after that.
There are many scenes that are difficult to sit through. As the movie progresses, “difficult” becomes an understatement in this regard. I don’t know who this movie was made for. Russell designed such a precisely executed film on basically every level. The only problem was the specific content. I don’t want to go into detail about any of the disturbing scenes. This is not a movie I could rewatch. Problematically, I don’t know how to rate this movie, because on every metric as a film (other than – do I like what I’m watching?), it basically gets a 10 out of 10.
Can I Recommend It?: Absolutely not. I honestly believe that if you had 100 unsuspecting people walk into a random theater where they put on The Devils, more than half of them would probably walk out.
Final Thoughts: 1/10 for how much I could stomach most of it. 10/10 Crowns for the couple of scenes that weren’t extreme. The set designs, the actors, the costuming, the camera work, the cinematography — all of that was great in this movie. On all accounts that I usually measure a film critically, The Devils is actually successful. That’s why I don’t really know how to rate this one properly. Personally, I could not watch this movie a second time, as it was quite disturbing. I watch a lot of horror films. The Devils was an exceptionally challenging movie to get through.
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