The Devil’s Rain

“Think yee to destroy something stronger than life by ending life? As the cock will crow in the dawn, after my body burns, so too will the sun rise and cast my shadow over this town, again! and again! You fools!” Robert Fuest’s The Devil’s Rain caught my attention awhile ago when I was browsing occult and folk horror films and after I watched the two Dr. Phibes films I realized he also directed this gem. I’m surprised this one is rated as low overall on Letterboxd as it is because it was an absolute blast of a film. The film opens on a dark thundering night with a Mother, her adult son, and a Ranch Hand witnessing her husband melt eyeless before she get kidnapped by a satanic cult leader and her son then pursues her captors. The Devil’s Rain has a very western aesthetic and vibe throughout which was a lot of fun as well as feeling unique. I was pleasantly surprised by the film’s overall quality as well because I was kind of expecting this to be one of those “terrible but fun films” and it was by no means perfect in it’s acting (I mean Shatner is never particularly amazing at acting) but it is just so much fun. I found Ernest Borgnine’s Corbis to be absolutely delightful. His campy pointy eyebrows, toothy grin, and red occult robes were just such a fun vibe. I loved his over the top rituals and devil worship throughout the film and the makeup on the eyes of the possessed worshippers made them even more fun and creepy. I loved the plot twist at the end of the film and the amusement of having an Anton LaVey cameo in the film as well. Apparently he’s in some other horror films as well which I may have to give a watch. Lastly the thing that most impressed me about The Devil’s Rain was it’s effects makeup. Not every scene in the film had top tier effects but the climactic final scene had the best effects in the film and was genuinely a really amazing climactic scene because of that! Overall, The Devil’s Rain was a really solid Occult/Folk/Western horror that is entertaining, visually memorable and unique, had a few memorable performances and really amazing makeup throughout!