Review of The Devils (1971) by Michael D — 09 Jun 2008

One of the most profoundly daring, visceral and disturbing films ever made, the fact that this is not currently available in full uncut form is nothing short of sinful. Oliver Reed gives, I think, one of the best performances I have ever seen as the doomed yet noble priest and Russell's direction is simply astonishing. Jodorowsky is great, I love him, but for me 'The Devils' goes even beyond his work because the visual excesses are fundamentally serving the storyline and never fall into the realm of weirdness for weirdness sake.

I have read that Roger Ebert gave this zero stars - which just goes to show how wrong well-regarded critics can be. But one thing is for sure - there is no-one in the English speaking world making films like this today.