The Devils (1971)

[Streetlight]

How does the JP BD (and the Criterion & Shudder streams by extension) compare to the BFI DVD or the Spanish BD? Other than additional scenes & censorship?

[Douglas R]

Originally Posted by Kyle15

I can say it IS officially licensed. They don't put out bootleg releases in Japan like that one company does in Spain. The censorship is within their right too a-la the cockfight and horse fall trims in UK films. The thing is this is not done with every Japanese home video release; some skirt by and others don't. The Devils unfortunately did not escape it!

A quick and dirty fan-edit and fix this however. Not ideal but still.

Is there a Warner Bros logo on the back cover? If not, it’s definitely a bootleg.

[benricci]

Originally Posted by Douglas R

Is there a Warner Bros logo on the back cover? If not, it’s definitely a bootleg.

It's licensed directly from Russo Productions for the Japanese home video market. And it's clearly stated on the rear cover.

It's definitely not a bootleg, they are very strict on that sort of thing at the retail level in Japan (unlike, say Spain, which doesn't care in the slightest).

[Douglas R]

Deleted

[alexroubaix]

So received the blu-ray today. Avoid at all costs!

This is not an HD-scan, but an Uncut reconstruction (using the BFI DVD as the main source).

Added to the pain, the the video seems to be upconverted using Topaz AI and the video looks ultra processed.

The genital areas are blurred.

The Rape of Christ and Grandier's Bone included, but AI'd to all hell.

[Hammerlover]

That's a shame but I am not surprised.

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by alexroubaix

So received the blu-ray today. Avoid at all costs!

This is not an HD-scan, but an Uncut reconstruction (using the BFI DVD as the main source).

Added to the pain, the the video seems to be upconverted using Topaz AI and the video looks ultra processed.

The genital areas are blurred.

The Rape of Christ and Grandier's Bone included, but AI'd to all hell.

Had a feeling this was gonna be an upscale tbh, I don't even think a HD master exists (which is why the BFI only released it on DVD). Shame.

[Shane Rollins]

Posting this in the main thread.

[Shane Rollins]

Originally Posted by alexroubaix

So received the blu-ray today. Avoid at all costs!

This is not an HD-scan, but an Uncut reconstruction (using the BFI DVD as the main source).

Added to the pain, the the video seems to be upconverted using Topaz AI and the video looks ultra processed.

The genital areas are blurred.

The Rape of Christ and Grandier's Bone included, but AI'd to all hell.

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

Had a feeling this was gonna be an upscale tbh, I don't even think a HD master exists (which is why the BFI only released it on DVD). Shame.

1. The 114-minute cut was done by a fan. I forget their name, and for obvious reasons I'm not looking them up to find their name (since for all intents and purposes, this is piracy). They explained how they used the BFI DVD and the uncut Hell On Earth to put this back together. At the moment, it is the best version out there.

2. I am by no means a fan of bad upscales (good upscales=upscales from 2K DIs or other substandard sources when there are no better/higher resolution options, bad upscales=upscaling from crap when there's better, or AI'ing the shit out of it), but the upscaling and AI wouldn't bother me here, considering my other two choices are a DVD missing six minutes and a VHS missing fourteen minutes. Easily the lesser of the evils. (There's a 4K file going around, with a newly-made Saul Bass variant of the WHV logo. Obvious upscale. Still rocks though.)

3. While I don't know this site's rules on sex/nudity/NSFW content, if people could get me caps from the Japanese disc, I would really appreciate it. Definitely the RoC, but other scenes too.

4. I think it was asked somewhere else, how long does it run? H:MM:SS or MMM:SS.

[manicsounds]

A comparison between the Japanese and UK releases
http://www.dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=8578