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TheDevilsRain

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). 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.

Mark Preston takes the book, hoping to meet with Corbis and defeat him. The two eventually meet in a ghost town in the desert, where Corbis gives Preston a drink of water from an old hand-pumped well; Mark drinks and then spits it out, proclaiming the water to be bitter. Corbis smiles and replies, "Sweet way to end a thirst, though."

Following that, Preston challenges Corbis to a battle of faith, which ends with Preston pulling a 1911 .45 pistol on Corbis. Corbis asks, "Is THAT your faith?" at which point Preston tries to escape. Surrounded by satanists, Preston pulls out the crucifix he wears around his neck, which then appears to transform into a snake, which he quickly discards. He is promptly captured by the Satanic followers of Corbis. Corbis later begins a ceremony which wipes Mark's memory clean with the "waters of forgetfulness" in preparation for a 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 in which Corbis is so completely taken over by the devil that he transforms into a goat-like being. Tom is discovered but manages to escape from the Satanists, and later meets up with Richards at the Satanic church, where they discover the source of Corbis's power—a porcelain 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
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