The Devils (Ken Russell, 1971)

[MichaelB]

It makes perfect sense once you factor in that this version (or the closest to it) has only been viewable in standard definition Digibeta up to now. "Remastered" covers that side of things.

[tenia]

I don't think I'm mistaking when saying remastering means that the presentation is based on an existing digital master (scan, master, whatever) which has been re-exported in a newer (theoretically better) version, eg Patton without the DNR, Aliens but with the AI sloppy upscale, now with moer clean-up, whatever.

As the Cannes Classics verbiage says it, The Devils' new presentation simply is a 4k restoration like so many others exist, which is why it doesn't need to state it's Remastered. It's technically not the case, except it's not a new full-fledge restoration but a retooling of a previous master which this is not, and it already states "restored and uncensored" anyway, which covers all the technical and content grounds.

Otherwise, it means most little-seen newly-restored movies could warrant using both terms... which they don't !

[mfunk9786]

One wonders if they specifically requested the NC-17 rating

Based on its prominence/proximity on the poster, they certainly courted it at any rate

Can anyone who has seen this remark on whether it's even warranted in this case? A Clockwork Orange, for example, if shown in theaters tomorrow, would be rated R (as it was re-rated as such in the US a few years after the initial X release). An NC-17 in 2026 does really feel like a publicity stunt type of thing. Is this film really as crazy as all that?

[domino harvey]

It’s been a long time since I watched the bootleg composite cut but you could tell quality wise which shots were reinserted and I thought at the time it wasn’t all that distinguishable from what was left in the released version in terms of salacious material. It’s still outre material for a film with big, respectable stars, but we see boutique labels release stuff 100X more shocking on a monthly basis

[beamish14]

One wonders if they specifically requested the NC-17 rating

Based on its prominence/proximity on the poster, they certainly courted it at any rate

Can anyone who has seen this remark on whether it's even warranted in this case? A Clockwork Orange, for example, if shown in theaters tomorrow, would be rated R (as it was re-rated as such in the US a few years after the initial X release). An NC-17 in 2026 does really feel like a publicity stunt type of thing. Is this film really as crazy as all that?

I assume they actually went through the process of paying the MPAA to view and assess it, and that is how they garnered the NC-17 rating.

[domino harvey]

It was recently submitted for classification and received an NC-17, it’s actually included with the new ratings in the MPAA’s most recent bulletin dated 8/12/26

[Never Cursed]

One wonders if they specifically requested the NC-17 rating

Based on its prominence/proximity on the poster, they certainly courted it at any rate

Can anyone who has seen this remark on whether it's even warranted in this case? A Clockwork Orange, for example, if shown in theaters tomorrow, would be rated R (as it was re-rated as such in the US a few years after the initial X release). An NC-17 in 2026 does really feel like a publicity stunt type of thing. Is this film really as crazy as all that?

The offending sequence that was added to the 2004 cut is frenetic, overamped, and involves a lot of nudity, but no, there's no real reason for the movie to share a rating with the uncut Pink Flamingos. I genuinely think they requested the NC-17.

[domino harvey]

As I recall from that doc about the MPAA, when you submit the board tells you what elements could be trimmed to resubmit for a new rating, so it could be something extremely minor that prompted the rating and WB just stuck with it. I do know that the MPAA has a history of encouraging “quality” films to keep their NC-17 rating to remove the stigma of it (Boogie Nights was one for sure) so while technically they shouldn’t be influenced to provide it, they may be incentivized to give it to a film that they have it on good authority would keep the rating

[Never Cursed]

But I've also heard of movies asking for the higher rating in some cases. The most famous example I can think of, though obviously not involving an adult movie, is the MPAA offering the original Star Wars a G rating and Fox asking for a PG rating in part because they thought teenagers would find a G-rated film "uncool"

[domino harvey]

Yes, that has def occurred (I hadn’t heard about Star Wars but I recall some teen movies in the nineties who rejected a PG rating to get PG-13 for similar reasons) but I believe they still had to resubmit with new offending material inserted. I know there is an appeals process but it’s kind of funny if it also works backwards (can you imagine the defense in a criminal case appealing because their client’s punishment was too light?). But this is also a body who reasoned that the Remains of the Day merited a PG rating for containing, and I quote in full, “Themes”, so…

[Lowry_Sam]

The new re-release trailer continues the short & sweet approach but has more content than the re-release teaser.

Would be nice to see these in theaters, they standout from the usual trailers and are quite effective.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

For what it's worth, the copy of The Last of the Mobile Hot-Shots which is on a certain video-sharing site has a Warner-Seven Arts ident at the start,so as you say made before the change of ownership and released after it. (It has a 1969 copyright date.) The version of Stop on another video-sharing site, which begins with an X rating card, has a Warner-Kinney ident.

For the production history of Stop I'm going off of Christopher Sieving's Pleading the Blood, which states that shooting started in December 1969 (after the sale to Kinney) but credits WB-Seven Arts head of production Kenneth Hyman for giving the green light. It also says that WB was still planning release the film even in late 1971 and that it may have held test screenings in Texas, but they finally buried it in the spring of '72 after deciding to sell some of its unwanted Seven Arts inheritances to television—since no TV outlet of the time would touch something like Stop, it just got shelved instead.

[HardNight'sDay]

The new re-release trailer continues the short & sweet approach but has more content than the re-release teaser.

Would be nice to see these in theaters, they standout from the usual trailers and are quite effective.

I wondered if they hired the editor who did the opening credits of Enter the Void. Now that I think about it, The Substance comes to mind as well.

[Captain Paranoia]

But this is also a body who reasoned that the Remains of the Day merited a PG rating for containing, and I quote in full, “Themes”, so…

Reminds me of how many kid-to-family films nowadays (that certainly would've been G-rated a few decades prior) receive a PG on the basis of "thematic elements".

[beamish14]

But this is also a body who reasoned that the Remains of the Day merited a PG rating for containing, and I quote in full, “Themes”, so…

Reminds me of how many kid-to-family films nowadays (that certainly would've been G-rated a few decades prior) receive a PG on the basis of "thematic elements".

The G-rating essentially going extinct is insane. It was a huge deal when films like The Black Cauldron garnered a PG, and now every single Disney/Pixar film gets it