The Devil's Rain

2:56 a.m. I awaken to massive stomach cramps.  I have been sick since Sunday night.  Slightly alarming, but I think it is something I ate.  (Organic mushrooms, perhaps?)  As I lay in bed, my head started to do its usual spin of thoughts and I suddenly remembered The Devil's Rain.  Maybe it was because I mentioned it to Girl during our Machete viewing session.  Maybe it was because I find the movie incredible in its own way.  May I was delirious with sickness.  Either way, I think this movie deserves at least one viewing from fans of bad cinema.  Not that it's horrible.  Well, it is horrible, actually, but in a way that only Seventies films can be.

1975.  Having John Travolta, Tom Skerritt, Eddie Albert, William Shatner and Ernest Borgnine together in a film where Anton LaVey served as an advisor can only mean it's going to be mesmerizing in some sense ... and it was, but not because of anything good.

The plot exists on the head of a pin and consists of a family curse and the usual Satan worshipping nonsense that was popular in that time period.  Perhaps it was there to serve as a recruiting tool for the Church of Satan (of which Travolta later became a part of).  Maybe it was an attempt to catch in on Borgnine's superstar power.  The cast of characters, in an act of symbolism for the plot, end the film by melting in the rain.

Simply amazing.

If this movie had a different cast, it would not even be worth noting.  The cast, however, makes this thing an object of magic.  How these people were convinced to be in the same film together is beyond me (except that maybe they all needed the money, and Travolta wasn't a household name yet), but it seems like there would've been too many egos involved.  What do I know, though?  I was four when it came out, and I don't even remember seeing trailers for it.  I came across it when I read about it and then caught it about a year later.

Why I thought of this in the wee hours of the morning is still a mystery to me.  I'm glad I did, though.  I'm going to lay down this morning, try to get better, and see if I can stream this thing through Netflix.  I think it's time to revisit the great Satanic Beast.  And I so wanna see Borgnine melt.