bkoganbing After the success of Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist Hollywood put out a whole slew of films dealing with the black arts and Satan worship. This one even had a consultant from the Church of Satan. Several players who ought to know better did this one for a paycheck.Ernest Borgnine hams it up big and broad as the leader of Satan church, a church that he converted from a Congregationalist puritan church to one swearing allegiance to old Scratch. Somebody in the congregation stole the book with the members sworn in blood to the devil and that's held things up with Satan claims in limbo. Been that way for 300 years or so and the church is now out in Kanasas somewhereWilliam Shatner, Ida Lupino, Keenan Wynn and Eddie Albert are all in this together and it's a camp hoot. That last and very soggy climax is one for the books. Are there folks out there besides Satanists who like these films?

Jonathan Hintz The Devil's Rain starts out very promisingly, with a loud thunderclap and a family worried about a missing member, who later appears and begins to dissolve, in a nightmarish scene. From there, the film transitions to a contest of wills, faith against faith, between Ernest Borgnine's devilish cult leader and William Shatner's presumed hero. The scene of their battle inside the church evokes real terror as Mark's doubts upon seeing his mother's corruption to evil cause his faith to shatter. The terror builds as Corbis uses trickery to compel Mark to remove his protection, allowing his black-robed minions to swarm over Mark in an eerie end to the scene.Unfortunately, the film does not build on this terror and gradually loses steam until the effects-laden ending. The main reason for this is the switching of casts due to the plot structure, from the engaging Ida Lupino and William Shatner to the less interesting trio of Tom Skerrit, Eddie Albert, and Joan Prather. While the actors do an excellent job, the characters do not come off as engaging as the others and never seem a credible threat to Corbis. Albert, cast against type and mostly known for his work in the comedic series Green Acres, is not believable as an expert on the occult that is on equal footing with the demonic Corbis. None of this is the fault of the actors, but in the casting and failures in the script.The special effects, while well done and visually impressive, also are a bit of a letdown. The opening effects sequence of the elder Preston dissolving is surprising and horrifying, but director Robert Fuest overuses the same special effects in the finale. As the entire congregation and Corbis begin to melt into puddles of goo, the film shows the whole scene in detail for great lengths of time. This over-exposure only manages to make the effect sequence lose its impact, and it merely becomes disgusting instead of horrifying. Sometimes less is more, and the whole scene could probably benefit from better editing to heighten the terror.Despite these flaws, the film does showcase a strong villain in Borgnine's Corbis. Borgnine's performance is top-notch, creating an atmosphere of dread and fear in all of his scenes. The film effectively uses the setting of the American Southwest to create a climate of isolation. The empty and decaying ghost town which Corbis and his cult inhabit mirrors the corruption and emptiness of their souls. The Devil's Rain does not enjoy a good reputation among horror fans, but it is not as bad as its reputation would suggest. The film does deliver some scares, horrifying effects, and an engaging, if weak, story. The film also boasts of using the high priest of the Church of Satan, Anton LaVey, as an adviser on the movie.

Woodyanders The Preston family find themselves being tormented by a centuries old curse brought upon them by a lethal Satanic sect led by the evil and powerful Corbis (robustly played with deliciously wicked lip-smacking relish by Ernest Borgnine). It's up to occult expert Dr. Sam Richards (an amiably befuddled Eddie Albert) and the courageous Tom Preston (a sturdy portrayal by the always reliable Tom Skerritt) to stop Corbis and his minions from getting their vile hands on a precious secret book.Director Robert Fuest, working from an incoherent and nonsensical script by James Ashton, Gabe Essoe, and Gerald Hopman, does an ace job of crafting a supremely spooky'n'surreal anything-can-happen nightmarish atmosphere, makes fine use of the desolate Mexican desert landscape (Alex Phillips Jr.'s expressive widescreen cinematography helps a lot here), and treats the hopelessly muddled material with commendable (albeit totally misguided) seriousness. The once in a lifetime cast of big name stars gives this honey an extra wacky lift: Besides Albert, Skerritt, and Borgnine, we've also got William Shatner in full-blown hambone histrionic mode, Ida Lupino, a delightfully grouchy Keenan Wynn, comely "Eight is Enough" TV series regular Joan Prather, and even John Travolta in his ignominious film debut. The luscious Lisa Todd has a memorably sexy bit as seductive succubus Lilith while legendary real-life Satanist Anton LeVay briefly appears as a high priest (and also served as a technical adviser!). Al De Lory's shuddery score hits the spirited spine-tingling spot. The extraordinary sight of Borgnine sporting grotesque goat's head make-up complete with ram's horns (!) and the ridiculously protracted grand scale goopy climax greatly enhance this beautifully berserk baby's considerable kitschy charm.

peteranderson975 Here's a mouldy oldie from deep in the cheese vault. I haven't seen this for many years since I saw it on TV sometime in the 80s (I remember a time when old horror films were regularly shown on TV). This review will have spoilersMrs Preston (Ida Lupino) is worried that her husband is missing and so her son Mark Preston (William Shatner) goes to confront the Satanist sorcerer Corbis (Ernest Borgnine) who has kidnapped his father in an attempt force the Preston family to return a book to him stolen from him by one of their ancestors who betrayed Corbis. This book has the signatures of all those whose souls he has captured but he can't return to Hell with the souls until he has the book. Preston challenges Corbis to battle of faith which he loses and so he too is captured by Corbis.It is now up to a team made up psychic investigator Tom Preston (Tom Skerrit), his wife Julie (Joan Prather) and Dr Sam Richard (Eddie Albert) to confront Corbis and try to rescue Tom's family from Corbis's clutches. Their first attempt fails and Julie is captured to used in their next ceremony. Tom and Dr Richard discover a jar full souls in torment, The Devil's Rain. Just as Corbis's ceremony reaches its peak Dr Richard confronts Corbis and smashes the jar, unleashing the Devil's Rain on the cultists. There is then a long drawn out scene where the whole cult melts.This is not very entertaining film. It is quite amusing to see Shatner earnestly hamming his way through the opening scenes in the film and I was giggling quite a lot at Shatner's rewrite of the Lord's prayer as he battled for his faith. But then the film switches to an unfamiliar group of characters who are now the main protagonists and the early part of the film seems to have been demoted to an extended prologue. I don't know if this why the film just fails to build up any sense of tension but certainly didn't help. The big melt scene at the end is not only long and unpleasant to look at, it is a major anti-climax.Rating 4/10