At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

THE DEVIL'S RAIN is a fine little devil worship horror yarn from '70s America which would go nicely in a double bill with the equally good RACE WITH THE DEVIL, which came out in the same year. There's plenty of similarities between the two movies, but while the other has the slight edge this is still a very good movie. What I liked most about this one is that it's completely unconventional: most movies of this era take a gradual build-up approach, like that seen in ROSEMARY'S BABY, where the movie begins with a depiction of normal, everyday life before gradually stripping away the layers and descending into hell. Not so here: from the start we're in the thick of black magic chaos, as an innocent man turns into a rumpy, rain-sodden mess for no apparent reason and a house is trashed by evil forces.There's little story to this, other than that seen in a flashback, and the film doesn't need it, either. It's set out in the middle of a bleak desert wasteland, brought to life with excellent landscape photography. A dwindling number of 'good guys' are set against an endless number of evil cult members who have extremely creepy, no-eye makeup. The battle for power ebbs and flows between the two factions until a twist ending which is well remembered as the film's highlight.Another great asset is the cast of B-movie notables. William Shatner's here, doing some of his finest emoting, and he shares heroic duties with Tom Skerritt, who's as well used here as he was in ALIEN. You have Ernest Borgnine overacting as the leader of the devil cult, sometimes turning into a goatish devil incarnate although sadly the cheesy goat makeup isn't up to the job and this is the one failing of the movie. There are lots of old-timers, too: Keenan Wynn in a cameo as the Sheriff; Woodrow Chambliss as the loyal retainer; Ida Lupino; good old Eddie Albert is a good guy as well. An unrecognisable John Travolta appears in his first movie role, a year before CARRIE, and even real-life Satanist Anton Lavey and his missus pop up for cameos. Claudio Brook, who was a staple of Mexican horror cinema, turns up as a preacher.The film has plenty of action and moves at an astounding pace, but there's no lack of atmosphere, either. British director Robert Fuest had a good eye for the bizarre (he did the two DR PHIBES flicks) and he uses it to an advantage here. The film is chiefly remembered for its grisly climax, in which all of the bad guys are subjected to the titular phenomenon and end up melting thanks to some thoroughly effective special effects. No doubt the people who made THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN were inspired to do so after watching this flick, and good on them, I say.

I don't know what the hell this film was all about. It started out pretty good and I though the low score on IMDb was going to turn out to he some kind of error.The first 15 minutes were pretty good, though I noticed the pacing was a bit slow already. Basically Shatner, his mum and some old man who is also in the house (though I couldn't gather why) are waiting for the husband/dad to return. Then someone turns up at the front door with their eyes missing, then they start to melt, oozing out green, blue and pink puss. It was a very unexpected turn of events and I liked the gore.Then the house is broker into and the old man beaten up and the mother kidnapped. Shatner goes looking for a Warlock called Corvus, who is after a sacred book that Shatner's family have hid for years.So then it goes to the desert. The pace becomes unbearably slow, uneventful scenes go on for ages. Shatner gets taken into the cult (BTW, they all have missing eyes bar Corvus). Then Shatner's brother comes along to save the day. But scenes go on for ages with nothing happening. This film was really dull.In the end we get treated to 10 minutes of all the cult members melting. God it just went on forever.Shame that this film was so dull and badly paced because it seemed to have a lot of potential. The make up and gore effects were pretty good and some elements were a bit spooky. The idea was an interesting one but executed poorly.

A hidden gem of a movie from the 1970's (d. Robert Fuest) with a plot twist at the end. This isn't as much a horror film as it is an Occult/Fantasy film - there are elements of horror but the film was done at a time when Satan worshipping was in the news and people were afraid of what they didn't understand.As the title sequence suggests this film has William (Cpt James T. Kirk) Shatner and Ernest (Dutch Engstrom from "The Wild Bunch" or Dominic Santini from "AirWolf") Borgnine facing off against each other, Shatner is the God loving Mark Preston while Borgnine is the reincarnated leader of a Satanic cult, Jonathan Corbis. John (Danny "Grease lightening" Zucco) Travolta makes a brief appearance as 'Danny', a brain washed occultist (this is Travolta's feature film debut). The opening credits confirm that Anton LeVay (the Church of Satan himself, who also has a cameo later as a Minister at the Church) was drafted in to act as Technical Adviser. It was this fact that sparked interest in the movie for me; I know of LeVay's work so I figured this movie would either be crammed full of relevant references or a vehicle to his churches glamorisation. The Movie: Straight from the off you are thrown into the action without explanation or a lead up to events - while this was confusing it grew on me as it saved a lot of unnecessary spiel. We learn straight away that Shatner's parents in the film are being held hostage in exchange for a book which Shatner is hiding. A fake version of Shatner's father attempts to convince him to bring the book to Corbis (Borgnine) but the wax-fake creation soon melts in the rain (There's a lot more 'melting people' action later on in the film). Shatner goes to confront Borgnine's church which is situated in a run-down rural town. Shatner states that his God will protect him from any temptations that Borgnine's could offer and sets a challenge that if he visits the church and is unaffected he can take his kidnapped parents, if not he has to hand over the book and his soul.The Book: Written in human blood it dates back to simpler times when Corbis was trying to separate settlers and convince them to join his Satanic cult. Anyone joined Corbis signed their name in the book in blood and are thus linked to the cult/book forever. Corbis is found out as a Satanist/Witch and burned at the stake, before being enveloped by flames he curses Shatner's family line as it was his wife that sold out the cult. The book is the final piece of a jigsaw that Corbis needs to gain his full powers and to unleash the "devil's rain". Back to the Movie: Shatner fails at his challenge (even with his amulet of protection) and is turned into a Satanist. This means it's left to his brother (Tom Preston AKA Tom "Top Gun" Skerrit) and sister-in-law (Julie Preston AKA Julie Prather) to rescue him, low and behold they have brought a doctors with them too (Dr Sam Richards AKA Eddie "Pod Clock from the Borrowers" Albert). By coincidence Julie has had dreams about the impending events so she tries (but fails) to be a navigator through the chaos. Brother Tom is pretty poor at his rescue attempts too and ultimately fails and is almost turned into a Satanist too. Dr Richards is the saviour, while it seems that he has dropped a clanger in bringing the book with him and leaving it on the floor of the alter while stealing an urn of souls. In actuality it's the urn that has the power rather than the book by itself; by getting Preston to smash it he is able to save the day.__________ The movie is dated - when you see how young the starring cast is you'll realise. There is a lack of gore but I can only surmise that this was on purpose to get an already risky satanic film past censors. The Satanists are easy to spot; they have blackened eyes and wear black robes. When they are killed instead of bleeding good old claret they ooze a mix of yellow, green and blue blood. This was confusing at first, the Satanists already lumber around like alien zombies so when I first saw the multi- coloured life liquid spill out of them I wasn't sure if it was a statement about Satanists or if it was for the censors. As well as the multi coloured blood, the Satanists melt when they die. It isn't mentioned whether the people were melting because the Satanical spell had been broken or because God (other Deity's are available) was washing away evil from the lands much like a Noah (and the Arc) scenario. The melting and the colourful blood are good FX for the era (1970's) but look a little old now.Borgnine's character is inherently a bad guy (or baaaaad guy) and he is the main vehicle for the film, his delivery is top class (even as a half-man/ half-goat Baphomet!) and is as convincing as a lot of the other top films he's been in. Shatner is no lame duck, but then again he's no acting phenomena, Shatner plays the role like only Shatner can - Shatneresque. The rest of the cast are good, a little over hammy in parts but not enough to detract from the performance. As well as Borgnine, Shatner, Travolta, Skerrit, Albert, Prather and LeVay you will also find Ida Lupino playing Mrs Preston, Keenan Owens playing Sheriff Owens and Diane Le Vay (Mrs Church of Satan) playing Priscilla Corbis. With LeVay pulling the strings as a Technical specialist ask yourself, do you really think good will triumph here?Thanks for reading :)

The cinema and Satan have always been good bedfellows: ever since cinematic pioneer Georges Melies made Satan's head detach itself and float around in 'The Laboratory of Mephistopheles' (1897), the century or so of cinema's evolution has produced scores of depictions of Satanism of varying quality littered around such classics like 'The Black Cat' (1934), 'The Devil Rides Out' (1968), 'Rosemary's Baby' (1968), and 'The Omen' (1976). Indeed, both occult film-maker Kenneth Anger and noted occultist Nikolas Schreck even go so far as to say that in his guise as Lucifer ('The Light Bringer') there is something inherently diabolical about movies in essentially being light projected through photographic film. So, roping in the assistance of Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan, was sure to raise the chill factor of this movie no end and hurtle it into the esteemed company of the above listed films. Problem: the film, aside from a couple of creepy moments at the start, is at its most dynamic little more than bland and in several instances inadvertently funny. Amusing if stoned: maybe…a classic, or even a film worthy of sobriety, it most certainly is not.Right, let's start with the positives: the film starts of promising with a haunting title sequence sound-tracked by tormented screams. Following this we are thrown into a disorienting opening sequence on a stormy night with Mark Preston (William Shatner) and his mother defending themselves from creepy ghouls with no eyes as they do the bidding of arch-satanist Corbis (Ernest Borgnine) who wants to get his hands on a book they are guarding. In addition, the first satanic ritual scene, set in a weird church in a ghost-town, has a genuine creepiness to it and it seems that the input of Anton LaVey is bearing some fruit. And…that's about it. The film then treads water in a shallow plot for another hour, firstly filling us in on the whole deal with the book thanks to a woman with ESP (after which her ESP serves absolutely no function) who is involved with Tom Skerritt (whose name you may not know but who is one of those "ahhh, him!" faces) who is William Shater's brother. He then battles the Satanists to save his family…a dramatic climax is attempted but the total absence of suspense from poor characterization and a poorer script (not to mention the derisive snort-inducing "transformation" Borgnine undergoes) renders this impossible. The film then reveals the meaning of the "Devil's Rain" (yawn) and then ends with a predictable twist. All in all, a total let-down.Ironically, 'Rosemary's Baby' is one of my favourite films and Anton LaVey is said to have cut his teeth in the Hollywood as an adviser on it as well as playing Satan himself in the dream scene; however, according to former high-ranking Church of Satan Member Michael Aquino in his book 'The Church of Satan', this is not true and merely a (characteristic) self-serving piece of mis-information on LaVey's part. Now, I'm not saying I sat down expecting another 'Rosemary's Baby' quality film, but I was intrigued by LaVey's indisputable role as a technical adviser in this movie (the film proudly boasts his help in the title sequence and he has a cameo in the ritual sequences) but I was also not expecting this totally forgettable waste of film.So, it would seem that while the Devil may have all the best tunes, he has a thing or two to learn about films.