During the Prussian army's invasion to Poland in 1793, a young Polish nobleman Jakub is saved from the imprisonment by a stranger who wants in return to obtain a list of Jakub's fellow conspirators. Following his mysterious saviour across the country, Jakub sees the overall chaos and moral corruption including his father's death and his girlfriend's betrayal. Being apparently demented by what he has seen, he commits a number of seemingly motiveless and gory killings.

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A political allegory wrapped in the guise of a gory horror film, Andrzej Zulawski's The Devil did not escape the wrath of communist censorship. The film was banned in Poland for 15 years, before getting a sporadic release in 1987.

Jakub (Leszek Teleszynski), a young 18th century nobleman, rots in prison for conspiring against the king. A mysterious stranger frees him, but in exchange he demands a list of Jakub's fellow conspirators. Jakub follows the stranger on a journey across a nightmarish, snowbound countryside where they witness countless acts of brutal violence. Affected by the overall chaos and moral corruption, the young nobleman descends into madness.

The Devil is a lost treasure of Eastern European cinema and a unique addition to the horror genre