It Came From the ‘70s: The Devil’s Rain

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My brother-in-law asked for this movie, The Devil’s Rain, for Christmas last year. I ordered it for him on Amazon without giving it much thought. It was only after I’d given it to him that I learned anything about it. First of all, it’s a movie from the ‘70s, and if you know me or have spent much time on this blog, you know I have an affinity for that (very kitschy) decade. Plus, it’s got Ernest Borgnine and a post-Star Trek / pre-Star Trek movies William Shatner. I had to watch this.

And now I have. And wow, what a mess. And that’s saying a lot, because a film from the ‘70s featuring two icons of ‘70s film and some truly ‘70s subject matter (the supernatural — it seems the country was obsessed with the supernatural back then) hits all my “Cheesy Seventies Movie” checkboxes. My level of expectations was understandably low: I wasn’t expecting an Oscar-caliber film here. So what went wrong?

Well, to start, the movie begins in the middle of a tense, dramatic situation that we know nothing about and therefore can’t possibly understand. It’s more then halfway through the movie before we’re given the background information to find out what any of this is about. The plot (what there is of it) involves a Satanic cult wanting a book that was stolen by the ancestors of the protagonist’s family. But by the time they revealed that, I’d stopped caring.

The film moves along at a slow pace, and I wasn’t an hour into it when I started checking the remaining runtime — “Is this over yet?” Eddie Albert (Green Acres) and Tom Skerritt (Alien) are in it too, but neither of them can save it. Also, apparently John Travolta is in the film too, but I didn't spot him.

It didn’t seem like there was enough story to justify the runtime (which felt like 4 hours, but IMDB tells me was less than 90 minutes). The movie consists of the protagonists continually returning to the area where the Satanist are hanging out. What could go wrong?

Then there’s the ending, which the Blu-ray packaging declares is “Absolutely the most incredible ending of any motion picture ever!” I won’t ruin it for you (in case, for some reason, you want to see this movie after reading this review), but let’s just say it was done better in the following decade without being so dragged out. I felt like the final scene went on for 10 minutes...a very dull 10 minutes.

So, yeah. Somehow this one let me down. Even with Ernest Borgnine playing a Satanic high-priest, and Shatner...being Shatner, this movie didn’t live up to the corniness I’d hoped for. It was just dull. I hear it has a cult following (and apparently my brother-in-law likes it), but it fell short for me.



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