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The Devil's Rain

Started by Foxcpr@hotmail.com, April 15, 1999, 11:35:09 AM

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Foxcpr@hotmail.com

Cool site!  Never seen anything like it.  The Devil's Rain is truly a classic.  There were a lot of things pointed out that I never picked up on.  I think it deserved a better rating than what it got.  What other movie has there been that minor supernatural powers were visually displayed (illusion of the talisman turning into a snake, telepathy, holding someone spellbound just by a gaze...)?  Besides who said everything always ends in happiness.

gktimm@c-zone.net

Caught this flick the way it was meant to be seen--at five a.m. on the late late late movie on TV.  Truly spellbindingly bad.  The sight of Earnest Borgnine turning from his naturally frightening state into satan/goatboy/whatever complete with horns is not to be missed.  It undoubtedly must have made the Academy think of taking back his Oscar on principle.  I learned two other things about this movie that your site did not mention.  First, when satan worshipers with no eyes in black robes get shot, they bleed antifreeze, not frozen yogurt as the last scene of the movie would have you believe.  Second, Earnest Borgnine's eyebrows, even when not in satan costume, still make him look like the devil.  He really should have thought of an eyebrow trim for his "human" scenes.  I'm surprised this film is not considered more of a "bad" classic than it seemed to be at five a.m. this morning.  

Christopher Montag

  This is one of the greatest pictures ever made! If not for the numerous aforementioned reasons, because small parts are played by Doktor Anton Szandor LaVey and his then wife Diane. Doktor LaVey founded the Church of Satan in 1966 c.e. and served as High Priest for over 30 years until his death in '97. The Church of Satan continues proudly and Doktor LaVey's books such as the Satanic Bible have sold millions of copies!

Brandi

Interestingly, lgworld@aol.com brought up Dr. Phibes, and as it turns out both Dr. Phibes and The Devil's Rain were directed by the same fellow (Anton Fuest). Obviously he had much better material to work with (and probably a higher budget) on the Phibes film...

Sir Sword

Um, I'm sorry to say this, but I took Latin (Classic, not the processed Church bull), and Rege Satanas (pronounced ray-shay Sah-tah-nus is Latin for "Kingdom of Satan". Just had to clear that up.

Chris K.

A good film. Required viewing for those who need a good scare. The special effects involving people melting to wax is gross. And if some of you people are real film buffs that don't say every film is BAD, check this flick out on DVD or video and is presented in it's original 2.35:1 Todd-Ao widescreen. Avoid the bad panned and scanned version. Actor Ernest Borgnine is effective as the Devil in this A+++ film.

Flashman2424

Saw this on TV at the age of six and it scared the s**t outa me!  Took me days before I could sleep.  It was the melting guy that did it.  Im eager to see it now that im at a mature age (24) and can fully enjoy it without p**sing in my pants.

I've seen this movie twice.  The first time it was on Monstervision with my hero, Joe Bob Briggs.  The second time was again just last night when one of my friends insisted on seeing it for one of our movie nights.  I just wanted to say that it was just as painful the second time around.  Even Skerritt, Shatner, and Borgnine couldn't save this movie.  Ouch.

Bob

I am the friend mentioned in ebolamonk's response and I disagree.  This movie was wonderful at 4:00 in the morning.  Come on now, this movie was quite amusing.  I say it was the best of the night, and one of the best movies of our movie nights.

Mr. Muucs

This is late night classic! So bad it's terrible. The evil guy turning people into robed minions reminded me of both "The Omega Man" and "Phantasm". Gotta love William Shatner and Tom Skerrit's displays of stupidity. Dumb ending, what else would one expect? Worth seeing if you want to stay up late, can't sleep, or what something to watch while getting wasted.

Tony

For all the bad acting and dialogue, this movie isn't that bad! I just saw it again on TBS right after a showing of my favorite horror movie of all time: THE EXORCIST. So you can say the Devil was out tonight! Yes its true Anton Szandor LaVey actually played a small part in the film (along with his first wife Diane) and he even provided the costumes and Satanic imagery, and also the demonic diatribes to give the movie an air of authenticity. This movie, along with other so-called "devil films" like The Brotherhood of Satan among others, is probably the best of its kind. By that I mean, for its outstanding special make-up effects! You just can't beat seeing a bunch of devil worshippers melting like they were ice cream in the sun! That one scene alone is worth seeing this movie, along with the wonderful preformance of the goatlord, Ernest Borgnine! One last little-known fact-- it was rumoured that LaVey had actually bought several members of the cast into the Church of Satan, most notably Keenan Wynn and Tom Skerrit! Don't know if this was true, but I do remember seeing old pictures of LaVey hanging out with some of these folks. It does make you wonder tho, doesn't it?

Hungy

In response to Foy (foy_67@yahoo.com), I'm going to have to disagree!!  I am also part of our movie night crew (I promise you all, I'm the last one... mostly) and I have to say that I LOVE movies like this simply because it's great to laugh at the celebrities and how terrible they were at this point...  Tom Skerrit was actually young too, that impressed me with the muchness.  It seems you've....... eaten....... my........ ketchup, you........ bastard, my......... ketchup!!  Ol' Billy Shatner is my hero, you can't beat that (hahahahahahaha, yes you can {just messin with j'all}).  Anyway, I'm going to have to say this is about 3 or 4 oot of 5 because of the lame celebrity cast.  It was wonderful.

~Hungy

foy

I also attend the movie nights with my good friends ebolamonk and lordofheck and I must say, this movie completely sucks.  I made the awful mistake of renting this on my own just recently, and it hurt a lot.  Even the great cast couldn't save it.  On the upside, Borgnine as satan preacher/goat monster was funny at 4:00 in the morning, and the movie did have an authentic feel to it, probably due to LaVey's direct involvment.
   Bottom line, with a group or by yourself, you're in for 90 minutes of misery and suffering if you sit down with this clunker.

ithur

IMO, this movie benefits quite a bit from both the pan-n-scan and the bad cable-TV editing; the more left to the imagination the better, at least 'til the last 10 minutes.  And the opening credits are phenomenal, too -- it's the most suspenseful 5min in the movie.

Is it scary, though?  Dunno....not in the traditional "horror" way at least, unless Satanic stuff is a personal phobia for you. For a better example of the type of "scary" this movie is, check out some Kenneth Anger flicks.


Chad Edwards

All right, so it's not the greatest horror flick ever made, that goes without saying. It's a bit slow-moving at times and not particularly interesting, but I've seen considerably worse films in my time. The movie's director, Robert Fuest(of THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES fame) does what he can with the threadbare material, the atmosphere is fairly creepy, and any flick that unites such talents as Ernest Borgnine, Ida Lupino, William Shatner, Tom Skerritt, Keenan Wynn and serves as the debut of John Travolta definitely has something going for it!