The Devil's Rain (1975)

I remember when The Devil's Rain (1975) was released in the UK - trailers like this got heavy rotation in the commercial breaks on TV.  Of course, I was far too young to see it at the cinema, but I caught up with it when it was shown on TV a few years later.  What struck me upon watching the film was that just about all of its highlights were in those trailers.  Which is never a good thing for any film.  The other thing that struck me was the very best bit was the finale and it seemed clear that the makers had come up with the idea for it first, then worked back to try and come up with ninety minutes or so of story to lead up to it.  Unfortunately, that story was confused and confusing, with characters having to spend far too much time explaining parts of it in order to try and enlighten the audience.  The justification for the title is particularly tortuous and is clearly intended to try and keep the nature of the climax from the audience - except, of course, that everyone who had seen the trailer already knew what the ending was, so there was no surprise.

On the positive side, as one would expect from the presence of Robert Fuest in the director's chair, the film certainly looks good.  The problem, though, is that script, which bogs most of the action down in a desert ghost town, while its episodic structure gives it a stuttering pace and requires the constant introduction of new characters, disrupting the narrative flow further.  While The Devil's Rain has a strong cast, the reality is that most of them have limited screen time, with characters being introduced then vanishing for large stretches of the movie.  Ernest Borgnine is the most consistent presence in the film and is obviously having a lot of fun as a centuries old Satanist enslaving the souls of various character, turning their physical bodies into life size living waxen images.  William Shatner looks like he's going to be the hero, before succumbing to his characteristic hysterics, while Eddie Albert takes on the savant role, but keeps disappearing from the plot, reappearing with no explanation at various crucial junctures.  Interestingly, the trailer only lists Tom Skerritt and Joan Prather as 'also starring', despite the fact that they are, in effect, the film's leads.  (John Travolta, in his film debut, has a small role in the film which, supposedly, led to his conversion to Scientology via Joan Prather).  Badly flawed though the film might be, that climax is still worth sitting through it all for, featuring some excellent make up effects.  Unfortunately, the makers' felt the need to tack on one of those tiresome 'twists' to the film, (they became popular in th eseventies, despite their novelty having worn off after you'd seen the first one), which leave you thinking "Oh for God's sake, just fuck off".