Two brothers (William Shatner, Tom Skerritt) try to bring down the satanic cult led by Jonathan Corbis (Ernest Borgnine) who has been tormenting their family for generations, determined to get his hands on a book in their possession which will increase his power.
I decided it was time to revisit a film from my childhood. More often than not this turns out to be a terrible mistake, but I actually really liked The Devil's Rain (1975), probably more than I did as a kid. Yes, there are some hoaky bits, but the pace of this movie is phenomenal. It really throws you into the story with no preparation and no explanation for anything going on, but it's never hard to grasp onto. It even throws some startling imagery on the screen really quickly, with the figure of a melting, eyeless man disolving in the rain. The eyeless people and melting flesh is a recurring visual motif in this film which features rather nice make-up effects and some decent special effects depicting the souls of Corbis' converts within a large windowed jar. It's not a classic, but it's certainly a lot of fun.
Hey look! There's Anton LaVey in the background. As I understand it, he was a consultant on the film. And it was directed by Robert Fuest, who directed the PHIBES films. When I read the credits for this movie before I saw it I thought "This is going to be the greatest movie ever made." Then I saw it. I enjoyed it, and it's grown on me. I like it a little more every time I watch it. One of my favorite things to draw was Corbis as the ram.
ReplyDelete