Movie Info
Movie Name: The Devil’s Rain
Studio: Sandy Howard Productions
Genre(s): Horror/B-Movie
Release Date(s): August 12, 1975
MPAA Rating: R
What…is…the…Devil’s…Rain?
The Prestons have been hunted for centuries by a Satanic priest named Jonathan Corbis (Ernest Borgnine). Corbis has now found them and demanding a sacred text, Mark Preston (William Shatner) must go after his mother (Ida Lupino) and if Corbis gets the book, the world will pay. Learning his family is in danger, Tom Preston (Tom Skerritt) and his wife Julie (Joan Prather) enlist the help of a supernatural researcher named Dr. Sam Richards (Eddie Albert) to stop Corbis…and the Devil’s Rain could be the key!
Directed by Robert Fuest, The Devil’s Rain is a low budget horror movie. The film was destroyed by critics but over the years has amassed a cult following due to repeat plays and a surprisingly strong cast which included a minor role by a young John Travolta in his first film.
Up your nose with a rubber hose, Shatner!
The Devil’s Rain is one of those movies that it felt was always on for the late night horror film. You would watch it because it was on, but it never was that good. Hopefully, you got to see the ending because if you missed it, you really wasted your time.
The movie is nonsense. The storyline is wandering and for being a horror story really lacks scares. The ’70s were loaded with tons of supernatural horror films and they were often classy, scary, and tense…this isn’t one of those. The film constantly builds atmosphere but fails to scare. Instead the movie comes off as quite laughable as you question “what’s happening?”
Once you go goat, you never go back!
The cast of the film is fantastic. Ernest Borgnine hated the experience and the problems that beset the filming (leading him to avoid horror films of the nature afterwards), but the other cast really are sidelined by the plot which writes them out. Shatner is the star for the first half of the film before he becomes a thrall of Borgnine and then the starring role is passed on to Tom Skerritt, Joan Prather, and Eddie Albert. Keenan Wynn has a small role as the local sheriff who won’t do anything, Ida Lupino is a kidnapped victim, and John Travolta is one of Borgnine’s eyeless followers.
Just like Star Trek…everyone wants me and rips off my shirt
The most memorable scene of the film is the goopy and gloppy ending in which the Devil’s Rain is released. The film has the characters melting and dissolving into a mess. It is a decent pay off for a bad movie and does look better than its budget. It goes on forever however and looks like the melting of the Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark…times about ten.
The Devil’s Rain is memorable but makes little sense. The story is all over the place and the movie’s cast is really let down by a bad script. I had enjoyed Fuest’s Dr. Phibes films, but this film is quite a let-down except for the gory ending. Fans of ’70s horror and low budget horror will enjoy a goopy, goofy film…but don’t go in expecting much.
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