31 Days of Halloween October Horror Movie Challenge - Day 14: The Devil's Rain (1975)

Day 14 - Devil’s Rain (1975) 

Platform:

Borrowed from OverDrive. 

Quote:

“Think ye to destroy something stronger than life by ending life?”

Synopsis:

The Preston family has guarded a secret book of immense power for generations. Now Corbis, a priest of a satanic cult, has returned to claim the book as his own and unleash the Devil’s Rain. It’s up to Mark and his brother, Tom to keep the book from Corbis and prevent him from unleashing Hell on earth.

Review:

……..*long sigh*...... Ok. This movie, folks. This is a special one. Now, you would think with a premise like what I provided above: an ancient secret kept by a family to save the world from a satanic cult looking to unleash the Devil’s Rain, with a cast like this film has: John Travolta, Ernest Borgneine, Tom Skerrit, and WILLIAM SHATNER!!! You would think that at the very least, this film would be a ham fest that is campy and over-the-top melodrama. What you actually have is a film that is virtually unheard of, though today it is gaining a foothold as one that many cult-classic horror fans (defined in this instance as “those who have a special fondness for obscure films that didn’t get their due credit when first released”) have begun to recognize and spread around. Unfortunately, the movie is largely nonsensical and ridiculous.

I’ll start with the positives of this film, but there aren’t many. First, the effects are probably the best part of the film. The Devil’s Rain melts the people who are caught out in it, and the melting effect is pretty decent for the time period. It still holds up pretty well even in HD (which has been the death of many older special effects work). The same can’t really be said of the eyeless Satanists. When someone has fallen to the cult, they become these eyeless ghouls that follow Corbis’s bidding. This was a pretty cool concept and the look was actually fairly effective. However, HD rendering does make the prosthetics really stand out. 

This leads me to a Moment in Horror History (imagine that was done with a cool reverb echo). Minor Spoilers here. William Shatner is one of the victims of Corbis and becomes a soulless, eyeless husk. The face mold they did to create his prosthetics is the same one used to create the infamous Captain Kirk mask that would become The Shape in John Carpenter’s Halloween! That’s right, the franchise that just won’t die (unlike Nightmare and Friday apparently), Halloween got its face, literally, thanks to this film! With Halloween Kills coming out tomorrow, it’s kinda serendipity that I would have this film cued up and see the origin of The Shape. And you can really see it here, too. When Shatner is revealed in his eyeless glory, it really did look like Michael Meyers up on the screen.

Other positives from this are the campy performances. Shatner is fantastic in his trademark deliveries. We even get a precursor to the infamous “Kaaaaaahhhhhhnnnn!!!” from Star Trek 2, as after finding out that his mother has been kidnapped, Mark Preston (Shatner) cries out “Cooooorbiiis!” It doesn’t echo through space, but you can feel that he’s warming up for it. Then, you also have Ernest Borgneine who is just chewing the scenery like nobody’s business. Even with the melodrama that Shatner brings, Borgneine seems like he’s in a completely different film from anyone else. When he emerges as the emissary of the devil in the 3rd act, it gets even better. 

Unfortunately, the movie is largely incomprehensible. Nothing makes sense. We know that Corbis wants this book that has the names of all the people who signed their souls over to the devil. But then, he’s wanting this bottle of Devil’s Rain that he can unleash on the world. Supposedly the bottle is the souls of those that signed in the book. So, I’m assuming, Cobis wants the book so he can go and collect on the souls to make more Devil’s Rain? It’s not very clear. Then there’s the whole flashback to the puritan settlers who uncover Corbis as a satanist, and apparently, Shatner’s family was part of Corbis’s cult, but they were called Fine? And now their Preston? Which is never acknowledged or explained, other than leaving the audience to perhaps conclude that the family changed their name to hide from Corbis? But Corbis was burned at the stake? And to make it even more confusing, you have Corbis played in the past and the present by Ernest Borgneine, but then you have Shatner playing Mark Preston in the present, and Martin Fine in the past. So, are these the same people moving through time unaged? Or are these the descendants? They certainly seem to know who Corbis is, even recognizing him when they meet. Nothing ever gets explained. Ever.

I feel like this is one that is worth looking into if you’re a horror fan, and you really want to see some fun, over-the-top performances from some well-known stars, and see the origins of the Michael Meyers mask. But in the end, this one just isn’t fun enough to give a so-bad-it’s-good status. I have so, I don’t recommend this one. It’s just too disjointed to even follow for a good time. There’s a reason that despite having some big names, no one has heard of this.

Movie Count:

New = 9

Total = 14

OverDrive Breakdown: OverDrive is a digital platform that you can use to borrow ebooks, audiobooks, comics, graphic novels, and movies. Unlike Hoopla, you can't download videos. They must be streamed. Also, you don't have the casting option. But both Hoopla and OverDrive can be accessed via web browser so you can watch on your computers. Another drawback is that you don't have unlimited access to videos, so if someone else has it borrowed, you do have to place a hold and wait for them to either return the material or for their loan to time out. Plus sides are the ease of borrowing. You have a set number of titles of any format (book, audio, video, etc.) that you can borrow from at any point in time (my library is set at ten), but once you return a title, you get that borrow back. So, unlike Hoopla, you don't have to wait for the next month to start borrowing again. Also, even if you have to place a hold, the longest loan period on a video is seven days, and then most videos expire 48 hours after you start watching, so the turnaround time is very quick. OverDrive will also email you notifications when your hold is ready.

31 Days of Halloween October Horror Movie Challenge - Day 10: Return to Horror High (1987)

Day 10 - Return to Horror High (1987)

Platform:

Borrowed from Hoopla. 

Quote:

“Class dismissed!”

Synopsis:

The killer who murdered the students of Crippen High was very brought to justice. Now years later when a film crew uses the school as a location to film their movie about the murders, it starts happening again. George Clooney, and Maureen McCormick star (kinda) in this weird and wild film within a film.

Review:

Now because I’m going to get into some spoilers while discussing this one, I want to go ahead and give my recommendation upfront. That way you can get my recommendation now, read the quick paragraph that follows to get a brief rundown on the plot and discussion, and then move on. 

Ok, this movie drove me nuts. But. I will say I had a good time watching it and yelling at the screen. So, I’m going to give this a recommendation, but only in the so-bad-you-have-to-see-it category. Grab a friend or two. Throw it on at a Halloween party, and have fun with just how absolutely ridiculous it is. 

Movie Count:

New: 8

Total: 10

Local police show up to a gruesome murder scene at the school with bodies everywhere, and not all in one piece. After being told that there are multiple bodies and they’ve been butchered beyond the ability to piece together, we follow a cop walking through the halls of the school who stumbles into a scene that the film crew is shooting, and we learn that we’re actually in a flashback to before the second round of murders happened. Now I usually try to avoid spoilers, but this one film is soooooo fraggin’ insane that I have to talk about several of the events of the film to do it justice. So if you haven’t seen this, and you don’t want to know what happens, STOP READING NOW!!!

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Ok, you’ve been warned. So, these weird transition moments where we flashback and forth happen throughout the film. Sometimes, you’re flashing to the present as the police investigate the scene of the murder of the film crew. Sometimes, you’re flashing back to the film crew working on the movie. And sometimes, you flashback to what you think might possibly be what happened in the original murders but is actually just a scene being filmed by the crew as they make their movie about the original murders. I’ll go ahead and tell you right now, you NEVER actually have a flashback to the original murders. Every time, it’s just a scene being filmed by the crew. This would also be a good time to point out that this IS NOT A SEQUEL! Yes, there was a film called Horror High from the 1970s, but it has absolutely NOTHING to do with this movie. So back to one of the major talking points to this film. 

Once we realize that the cop was actually walking into a scene being filmed by the crew, we are introduced to the sleaziest human being in existence in the form of the film’s producer who just wants to make money and leer at the women in the film. BUT, we’re also introduced to George Clooney in his first-ever film role! He’s an actor cast as a cop in the film, but he’s not long for this picture. Shortly after we’re introduced to his character, he gets a phone call from his agent about a TV role. He gleefully informs the producer that he’s out, and on to better things. On his way out though he gets distracted by a sound, goes to investigate, and then is subsequently murdered for his efforts. Now, I don’t like giving plot details like this away, but I have to bring this up here for a couple of reasons. First of all, for some reason, George Clooney was second-billed in the credits. Now the modern updated posters and boxes for this proudly proclaim Clooney as the star of the film because he went on to become a top-list celebrity, but the original credits still list Clooney second out of everyone. However, this was Clooney’s first film role; he was not a name other than the fact that he would have been the son of a famous actor. AND he’s the first on-screen kill of the movie. So why did he get such high billing? It’s not like they were pulling a Scream at this point in the ’80s where they kill off Drew Barrymore in the first 30 minutes. Just a weird move.

This would also be a good time to point out that every time you think you’re seeing death on screen, it turns out to be just a part of the film crew filming a scene. No one dies. Except for Clooney. So where are did all of these dead bodies come from that the cops are inspecting throughout the film, you ask? I’m getting there. Wait for it.

While all this is going, Maureen McCormick in the present is delivering one of the weirdest portrayals of a police officer ever. For some reason that is never even addressed (really not even acknowledged by anyone else in the movie), she is getting more and more aroused as she investigates the murder of the film crew. It’s crazy! 

Beyond this point, the movie is just campy as all get out: exploding breasts, a weird monologue about the exploitation of women after walking through a locker room filled with naked women (one of whom is threatened to be thrown out in the hall naked if a girl won’t go out with a guy), an elaborate and bizarre scene in which a teacher gets dissected, an awkward love scene set to random welding, and one of the most over the top final villain confrontations I’ve ever seen. To top off all this weirdness between the bad acting, the back and forth time jumps, and the fake kills… it turns out that everything we just saw had nothing to do with the bodies that the real cops are investigating. At the end of the movie, everyone gets up and runs off as soon as the cops go into the school to check out a report about something found in the basement. It’s the film crew. The police have been investigating actors in stage makeup and prop body parts… AND THEY NEVER NOTICED!!!! WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!? 

... *Sigh*...

Again, all that being said, still a worthwhile watch for how insane it is. Also, I learned about this one thanks to one of my favorite podcasts: Horrible Horror. If you liked this, go give these guys a listen.

Horrible Horror Episode 18: Return to Horror High

You can also find them on any podcast platform.

Hoopla Breakdown: Hoopla is a digital borrowing service that many Ohio Libraries offer that allows patrons to borrow digital books, audiobooks, graphic novels, single issues of comic books, movies, and episodes of TV shows. You are provided with a set number of borrows each month. The amount varies by the library system. There are some limits on how many borrows that branch allows across its patrons each day, so it's better to try to get your borrows in early the morning of than it is the night before you plan to use them. This can also be an issue if you are looking to check out a TV Series because you have to borrow each episode individually. However, unlike other services, the items are always available. There is no hold system, waiting for other patrons to return their material before you get the title, or waiting for it to be delivered to your local branch for pick up. If you can find it, you can borrow it. Other benefits to this program are that you can stream directly over your data connection or wi-fi, or if you are concerned about saving data, you can download the material for offline access. The Hoopla app also has a casting feature so you can stream the title from your device to a larger screen using devices like Chromecast.