The Devil's Rain is a 1975 low-budget horror film, directed by Robert Fuest.
Plot[]
A curse hovers over the Preston family, caused by their betrayal of the Satanic priest Jonathan Corbis (Ernest Borgnine) several hundred years before. Corbis has followed the Preston family for generations in pursuit of a Satanic tome that has the names of the people whose souls Corbis has taken, written and signed in their blood through which he obtains great power. Corbis first captures the father, Steve Preston (George Sawaya), who is allowed to escape home to warn his wife Emma (Ida Lupino) and younger son Mark (William Shatner) about Corbis' wrath, and to tell them to give the book back to Corbis. Shortly afterwards, Steve Preston starts melting into a waxy substance, apparently melting in the rain. Emma and Mark stare in disbelieving horror and questioning if it was even really Steve or just an illusion of Corbis' to intimidate them into returning his tome.
Mark Preston takes the tome from where its been hidden, hoping to meet with Corbis and defeat him. The two eventually meet in a ghost town in the desert, where Corbis, whose identity is unknown to Preston at the time, offers him a drink of water from an old hand-pumped well; Mark pumps the well and gathers water in a tin cup, takes a sip and then spits it out, proclaiming the water to be bitter. Corbis smiles and replies, "Sweet way to end a thirst, though, isn't it?"
Corbis then asks Mark if he brought the book. Mark replies that he will speak to no one but Corbis. Corbis says: "Then speak. Where is the book?"
Following that, Preston challenges Corbis to a battle of faiths, stating while he points at the church that "I will face what you have behind those doors and come out exactly as I go in"
Corbis says "My faith against yours!" and accepts the challenge and invites Preston into the church while stating "Let me show you what I've put my faith in!".
Later inside the satanic coven/church, Preston recites a prayer to God parallel to Corbis' prayer to Satan. Corbis demands Preston be seized by one of his followers and when the hooded figure tries to grab Preston, he responds by pulling and firing a 1911 .45 pistol on the follower, killing the follower instantly. Corbis asks Preston "Is THAT your faith?" at which point Preston tries to escape from the church. Once outside, Preston pulls out the crucifix he wears around his neck for protection from Corbis. Corbis, in his ceremonial garb at the steps of the church flanked by some of his followers, closes his eyes, meditates and quickly says "Present thyself to him. BEHOLD!" transforming the crucifix necklace into a live snake, which Mark quickly discards from his neck and throws to the ground. Preston tries to make a run for it as the satanists pursue him through the old deserted town but he is promptly surrounded and captured by Corbis' eye-less followers.
Corbis later initiates a ceremony with Mark Preston being tied to a large cross which wipes Mark's memory clean with the "waters of forgetfulness" in preparation for another ceremony later that evening.
Meanwhile Preston's older brother, Tom (Tom Skerritt), and his wife Julie (Joan Prather), have gone to look for Mark; they are accompanied by Dr. Sam Richards (Eddie Albert), a psychic researcher. Tom witnesses his brother's total conversion to a Satanic puppet in a ceremony that evening in which Corbis, a dedicated, loyal and powerful servant of Satan, gets completely taken over by Satan that Corbis transforms into a goat-like being. Tom is discovered at the ceremony but manages to escape from the Satanists. Later he meets up with Richards at the Satanic church, where they discover the source of Corbis's power—a porcelain and glass container known as The Devil's Rain, which contains the souls of Corbis's converts.
Corbis and the Satanists then arrive at the church, and Richards threatens to destroy the Devil's Rain, which he then does, and makes good his escape. The Satanists melt in the rain as a storm rages as Tom and his wife make a hasty exit. As Tom holds his wife, the audience discovers that it is actually Corbis he is embracing and his wife's soul has become trapped within a new Devil's Rain.
Cast[]
- Ernest Borgnine as Jonathan Corbis
- William Shatner as Mark Preston
- Tom Skerritt as Tom Preston
- Eddie Albert as Dr. Samuel Richards
- Joan Prather as Julie Preston
- Ida Lupino as Emma Preston
- George Sawaya as Steve Preston
- Woodrow Chambliss as John
- Keenan Wynn as Sheriff Owens
- Anton Szandor LaVey as High Priest of the Church of Satan
- Diane LaVey as Priscilla Corbis