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The Devils

UK 1971
produced by
Ken Russell, Robert H. Solo for Russo Productions/Warner Brothers
directed by Ken Russell
starring Oliver Reed, Vanessa Redgrave, Dudley Sutton, Max Adrian, Gemma Jones, Murray Melvin, Michael Gothard, Georgina Hale, Brian Murphy, Christopher Logue, Graham Armitage, John Woodvine, Andrew Faulds, Kenneth Colley, Judith Paris, Catherine Willmer, Iza Teller (= Izabella Telezynska)
screenplay by Ken Russell, based on the play by John Whiting & the novel The Devils of Loudon by Aldous Huxley, music by Peter Maxwell Davies, production design by Derek Jarman

review by
Mike Haberfelner

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France 1634: To get the country in their grip, church and state have united to drive out the protestants - or kill them, whatever comes in more handy -, and unite the Catholic church under Cardinal Richelieu (Christopher Logue). And Richelieu and King Louis XIII (Graham Armitage) celebrate their successes as triumphs, even though outside their narrow minds, the Black Plague slowly takes its toll.

Especially the city of Loudon, led by its priest father Grandier (Oliver Reed) puts up resistance against plans of church and state, as Grandier neither wants the Protestants expelled or executed, nor does he want the citywalls torn down. and Grandier even has the city guards behind him, should need arise ...

So Richelieu and Louis XIII have to cook up another plan to get rid of the rebellious churchman ... 

In Loudon, Grandier is known as quite a womanizer, who has impregnated quite a few girls, despite his cloth, so it is of little wonder that he has not only made friends in the city. Plus, the Ursulian Nuns seem to all haqve fallen in love with the attractive soft-spoken priest, especially their hunchbacked mother superior sister  Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave). But all of a sudden, only one girl has caught Grandier's eye, virtuous Madeleine (Gemma Jones), and this time the love is for real (and hers, too).

In a private ceremony he marries himself to her and figures that would set everything straight ... big mistake: Before long, sister Jeanne has learned of this, and sells him off to Richelieu, the king, and their executor Baron De Laubardemont (Dudley Sutton), and soon they have the splendid idea of making Grandier the target of a witch-hunt, and thus hire üprofessional absent minded witchhunter Barre (Michael Gothard) to introduce his trade to Loudon ... and his first victim for questioning (well, torturing) is sister Jeanne herself, who soon regrets having betrayed Grandier and even revokes her confession ... but to no avail, since Barre expects different answers, and has ways of getting them.

Soon, Barre has turned Loudon, and especially the nunnery, into a place of sin and abandon that makes the womanizing priest look positively pale, and sex and orgies prevail for the sole cause to get a testimony for the sins of father Grandier ... which Barre finally gets, which leads to a carte blanche for questining (torturing) Grandier and finally condemn him to death on the stake in a mock trial.

As their priest is burned, the decadent citizens of Loudon cheer on, oblivious to the poitics behind the execution, and really, the minute Grandier has finally been burned to death, Loudon is blown up ...

 

After Michael Reeves'  Witchfinder General had become a huge success in the late 1960's, it did spawn a plethora of other witchhunt-movies. Of course, most of them were formulaic (if often charming) drivel ... but The Devils was the big exception. Directed by Ken Russell, who invariably puts his personal visions over genre conventions or historical accuracy, the film has become an absurd, orgiastic tale of sex and violence, full of provocations towards the Catholic church, macabre imagery, political satire and black humour, that had little to do with the dead-serious Witchfinder General or any of its rip-offs (e.g. Mark of the Devil, The Bloody Judge) ... but would of course run into problems with censors and church (which was to be expected).

The film itself manages to unite all its diverse elements - from sex to violence to satire - with ease, never once forgetting to entertain the audience because of some lofty goals, and (of course) features great, often anachronistic sets and is carried by great performances (above all Oliver Reed and his nemesis Dudley Sutton).

 

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

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Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
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love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

is all of that.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
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a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
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to the weirdly romantic,
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Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
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the new anthology by
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Out now from
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