Last fall I finally bought the 2012 British DVD of Ken Russell‘s The Devils (’71), but I never watched it. One of my motives in getting it was that I wanted to see the fabled “rape of Christ” sequence that was cut from the theatrical version. And then last night there it was, a Youtube clip posted by “Berg”, in the comments section under the “Houston Movie Fan Killed Over 300 Dispute” story. It’s one thing to watch this sequence in the context of Russell’s film and another to view it as a stand-alone. In the latter regard it’s the first excerpt from a mainstream big-studio film that I would actually call demonic. I despise Christians but even I understand why they would be appalled by this. I actually agree with the 43 year-old decision to cut it out. I never thought I’d hear myself say such a thing.
