Title: The Devils Rain
Director: Robert Fuest
Cast: Ernest Borgnine, Tom Skerrit, William Shatner, John Travolta
Review: I had heard a few things about The Devils Rain, among them was that this was John Travoltas first movie and that William Shatner (aka Captain Kirk) was in it. But first and foremost I thought that the fact that the used a "high priest of the church of Satan" as a technical adviser for the film just really peeked my curiosity for this film.
The story is about a satanist cult lead by a man named Corbis. Hes lost a book that has all the names of the people that he has turned into satanist and he needs it to send their souls to hell, but low and behold. William Shatners family has the book and he doesn't want to give it back. "I wont give a devil man what he wants!" I must say that this movie was very fun to watch. It has many things that make it an entertaining film. Ill start by the performances. Ernest Borgnine as Corbis is positively evil! But at the same time he is funny. I don't know how to put it but the performance he delivered was both cheesy and good at the same time. He looks kind of funny with his red hooded garments and his beer belly yelling all sorts of sacrilegious phrases. But at the same time he was very evil when push came to shove. He is one of the coolest things of the movie. Then there's Shatner who is always a hoot! He over acted many times as well and spoke his words as if he was aboard the ss enterprise. It was as if they chose these two really cheesy actors and put em together on the same film to see if they could bring up their mega cheese factor higher. Well Ill tell ya, they achieved it and Ill be darned if it wasn't fun to watch. The rest of the cast was nothing special, Tom Skerrit and the rest of the cast were just blurting out their lines, but didn't do too bad of a job.
And for those of you holding their breath to catch Travolta in his first film role...well don't hold on for too long cause you just might miss it. He is virtually unrecognizable under the satanic black hoods and make up. Honestly, the only way I recognized him was by looking at the dimple in his chin.
The atmosphere in the movie is excellent. Right from the first opening minutes you are treated to an opening sequence that will certainly pull you in! You are right smack in the middle of a lightning storm with buckets and buckets of rain falling and the wind blowing like a madman. It just pulled me in right away and I loved that! Then there's the spooky ghost town in which the satanist do their worshiping. It added a nice feeling of desolation and loneliness. A ripe old place for Satan mongers to fester in! Then there's the make up effects. With a movie boasting to have "the most incredible ending on any motion picture ever!" well you know its got to be something special. And special it was. Not mindblowingly good special, but special enough to liven up my Saturday night. The gooey, messy, wet and slimy ending was worth the wait and certainly lives up to its title. What I really liked about that gooey Satan worshipers melting in the rain finale was that it lasted a long time! They really took their time to show these devil bastards melting in every which way they could possibly think of. Cool in deed.
The only negative side to this film was the cheesy dialog. I mean come on dudes! Didn't they use a high priest of the church of Satan to write this thing? Yet the whole thing comes off as a phony, cartoonish version of devil worshiping. Even the devil himself is a cartoon on this one! Complete with goat horns and all! I was expecting something a bit more serious from a movie that boasted having a high priest of the church of Satan helping them along the way. But no, we get the cartoon version of what satanism is like. Now that I think of it....they always do that in movies. But this is not to say that the movie wasn't fun...it was oodles of fun. Just not real.
In conclusion, this was a fun movie with lots of cool little things to keep you interested, gooey slimy fx, cheesy story and acting and satanism (thats always an eye opener!). Just don't take it too seriously, cause its not that type of movie and anyway the minute shatner starts saying his dialog you'll think his going to beam Satan up to the enterprise or something.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Director: Robert Fuest
Cast: Ernest Borgnine, Tom Skerrit, William Shatner, John Travolta
Review: I had heard a few things about The Devils Rain, among them was that this was John Travoltas first movie and that William Shatner (aka Captain Kirk) was in it. But first and foremost I thought that the fact that the used a "high priest of the church of Satan" as a technical adviser for the film just really peeked my curiosity for this film.
The story is about a satanist cult lead by a man named Corbis. Hes lost a book that has all the names of the people that he has turned into satanist and he needs it to send their souls to hell, but low and behold. William Shatners family has the book and he doesn't want to give it back. "I wont give a devil man what he wants!" I must say that this movie was very fun to watch. It has many things that make it an entertaining film. Ill start by the performances. Ernest Borgnine as Corbis is positively evil! But at the same time he is funny. I don't know how to put it but the performance he delivered was both cheesy and good at the same time. He looks kind of funny with his red hooded garments and his beer belly yelling all sorts of sacrilegious phrases. But at the same time he was very evil when push came to shove. He is one of the coolest things of the movie. Then there's Shatner who is always a hoot! He over acted many times as well and spoke his words as if he was aboard the ss enterprise. It was as if they chose these two really cheesy actors and put em together on the same film to see if they could bring up their mega cheese factor higher. Well Ill tell ya, they achieved it and Ill be darned if it wasn't fun to watch. The rest of the cast was nothing special, Tom Skerrit and the rest of the cast were just blurting out their lines, but didn't do too bad of a job.
And for those of you holding their breath to catch Travolta in his first film role...well don't hold on for too long cause you just might miss it. He is virtually unrecognizable under the satanic black hoods and make up. Honestly, the only way I recognized him was by looking at the dimple in his chin.
The atmosphere in the movie is excellent. Right from the first opening minutes you are treated to an opening sequence that will certainly pull you in! You are right smack in the middle of a lightning storm with buckets and buckets of rain falling and the wind blowing like a madman. It just pulled me in right away and I loved that! Then there's the spooky ghost town in which the satanist do their worshiping. It added a nice feeling of desolation and loneliness. A ripe old place for Satan mongers to fester in! Then there's the make up effects. With a movie boasting to have "the most incredible ending on any motion picture ever!" well you know its got to be something special. And special it was. Not mindblowingly good special, but special enough to liven up my Saturday night. The gooey, messy, wet and slimy ending was worth the wait and certainly lives up to its title. What I really liked about that gooey Satan worshipers melting in the rain finale was that it lasted a long time! They really took their time to show these devil bastards melting in every which way they could possibly think of. Cool in deed.
The only negative side to this film was the cheesy dialog. I mean come on dudes! Didn't they use a high priest of the church of Satan to write this thing? Yet the whole thing comes off as a phony, cartoonish version of devil worshiping. Even the devil himself is a cartoon on this one! Complete with goat horns and all! I was expecting something a bit more serious from a movie that boasted having a high priest of the church of Satan helping them along the way. But no, we get the cartoon version of what satanism is like. Now that I think of it....they always do that in movies. But this is not to say that the movie wasn't fun...it was oodles of fun. Just not real.
In conclusion, this was a fun movie with lots of cool little things to keep you interested, gooey slimy fx, cheesy story and acting and satanism (thats always an eye opener!). Just don't take it too seriously, cause its not that type of movie and anyway the minute shatner starts saying his dialog you'll think his going to beam Satan up to the enterprise or something.
Rating: 3 out of 5