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There are many reasons to pay attention to the new release of The Devils, the subversive 1971 religious satire that has been newly restored in accordance with its late filmmaker’s wishes.

It’s a bold and shocking dark comedy that takes aim at the medieval Catholic Church with unrepentant glee. For decades, film critic Mark Kermode tried to restore the original vision of the movie that director Ken Russell wanted for its initial release. Russell (whose other credits include the rock opera Tommy) died in 2011, but Kermode’s quest continued until Warner Bros.’ new specialty division ClockWork exhumed the project from its archives.

Now officially titled Ken Russell’s The Devils, the movie’s release is a triumphant encapsulation of playing the long game with film restoration. At long last, this strange, wild, and altogether unforgettable movie hits theaters as the artist behind it intended.

Yet there’s another reason that The Devils may generate interest as it snakes through theaters across the country: It’s the first movie opening nationally with the NC-17 rating in almost 15 years.

Back in 1971, the movie received the similarly-restrictive X rating, which the Motion Picture Association of America (then known as the MPAA, now simply the MPA) invented a mere three years earlier. (The first recipient was Brian De Palma’s satire Greetings.) The ratings system evolved after that, with PG-13 bridging the gap between R and X after the 1984 release of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and the X transforming into the more self-explanatory NC-17 by the end of the decade.

Over the years, the rating became anathema within Hollywood. Unlike the comparatively innocuous R, the NC-17 rating left no wiggle room for younger audiences. And while it wasn’t a legal restriction so much as a parental guideline, it led to innumerable instances where studios recut movies until the MPA agreed to give them an R. The NC-17 has generally come into play with movies that feature explicit sexual content, like the 2013 Palme d’Or-winning romance Blue is the Warmest Color (the last movie released with the rating), though when The Devils initially received an X rating it may have been in part due to its religious taboos. Those were more puritanical times.

Now, the NC-17 is a marketing boost: See the movie so vulgar it took 55 years to get released in its original form! Despite its title, The Devils is less scary than entertaining, a transgressive romp disguised as a historical drama. A number of critics have compared The Devils to Monty Python and the Holy Grail with good reason: It’s a zany, immersive period piece with anarchic flourishes throughout, a feat of tonal brilliance by Russell that is at once riveting, profound, and fun.

And it’s not fundamentally different from the original. The release of The Devils is mainly an opportunity to experience the lush 4K restoration of an entrancing movie that deserves the optimum theatrical context. However, Russell’s cut was censored in different parts of the world by anywhere from three to five minutes (and when Kermode tried to get it released back in 2002, it was still considered too much of a challenge).

The core of The Devils revolves around an atmospheric parable set in the early 1600s, as the French city of Loudon contends with church orders to take the city walls down. (The story is based, in part, on the novel The Devils of Loudon.) As its charismatic, womanizing head priest (Oliver Reed) holds sway over the locals, the church schemes to take him down — in part thanks to a demented and deformed nun (Vanessa Redgrave) who accuses the man of various mischief after realizing she can’t have him for herself.

The graphic penultimate sequence — an orgy with a crucifix that plays a supporting role — isn’t exactly as pornographic as that NC-17 rating might suggest. Instead, it’s an angry, defiant statement against institutional control, and it ends with an eruption of violence that doubles as a warning sign for unregulated extremism of any sort. If that sounds like your jam, The Devils is an utter blast.

As a child of the nineties, I grew up in the immediate shadow of the NC-17, which was often applied to the kind of artier, auteur-centric filmmaking that would eventually get me excited about the medium. As a young movie buff, I couldn’t go see Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover or David Cronenberg’s Crash in theaters — but if anything, the rating enhanced their allure. I saw them later and it was worth the wait. The Devils was, too.

Ken Russell’s The Devils is now showing at the Southampton Playhouse.