The Devil's Rain
1975 · Directed by Robert Fuest · USA / Mexico
The Devil’s Rain (1975) is a supernatural horror from Robert Fuest. An all-star cast includes Ernest Borgnine, William Shatner, Tom Skerritt and Ida Lupino. John Travolta features in an early role before he caught the night fever and found summer loving in Grease.
With technical advice from High Priest of the Church of Satan, Anton Szandor LaVey, you would think it was going to be a wild ride. But Fuest chooses drama over satanic thrills, and the eyeless Satanists aren’t scary and mainly do a lot of chanting and hanging around in black habits. I am sure that Fuest did not intend the scene where Borgnine transforms into a devilish old goat to be hilarious, but that is the result you get.
There is an unsettling score by Al De Lory, which uses discordant strings and wailing voices to good effect. It certainly makes the pedestrian drama feel a bit more satanic, even if the plot doesn’t. Things pick up when the devil’s rain pours and the Satanists are reduced to a melting, moaning gloop. There is a twist at the end; it is more tiresome than sinister and really doesn’t add up to much.
The critics gave the film a panning. My favourite put-down is:
The Devil’s Rain is ostensibly a horror film, but it barely manages to be a horror… it is as horrible as watching an egg fry.
Harsh but very funny.
The eyeless mask created for William Shatner was later used by the production team on Halloween (1978). The crew spray-painted the mask white, and it was worn by Nick Castle when he played Michael Myers.
Gallery
Trailer
From the score
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Al De Lory – Main Title
