6.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Patriarch Steve Preston goes missing and worried mom Emma (Ida Lupino) sends eldest son Mark (William Shatner) in search for his father. Suddenly, a dying, eyeless Steve returns and demands that the family: "Give Corbis what belongs to him!" before dissolving into a gelatinous meltdown. Corbis (Ernest Borgnine) is a Satanic priest hell-bent on recovering a valuable book listing the names of those who sold their souls to the devil.a book that resides with the Preston family. Occult expert, Dr. Richards (Eddie Albert) and Mark's younger brother, Tom plot to free the Prestons and destroy The Devil's Rain, a bottle containing the souls of those already damned.
Starring: Ernest Borgnine, Eddie Albert, Ida Lupino, William Shatner, Keenan WynnHorror | 100% |
Supernatural | 6% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit)
Spanish: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
There may not be much ultimate debate over whether The Devil’s Rain is a sadly forgotten horror masterpiece (hint: it’s not), something that may play into whether or not individual consumers will want to spring for this new Blu-ray. But for those on the veritable fence, I’d offer one piece of encouragement: however loopy the film itself is, this release offers at least one priceless supplement, a bonus feature which in fact is only tangentially related to the film (which in and of itself may indicate the inherent “quality” of the main feature). Daniel Roebuck, an actor whose name may not be overly familiar even if his face will be (courtesy of stints on everything from Matlock to Lost, as well as well remembered performances in River's Edge and The Late Shift, the latter offering Roebuck as one Jay Leno), delivers an amazingly sweet reminiscence of his own history with the film. I won’t spoil Roebuck’s hilarious but touching anecdote, but will state unequivocally that it’s among the funniest and most charming memories I’ve heard anyone relay about any particular film. The fact that it’s about a film as patently gonzo as The Devil’s Rain is only makes it all the more lovable. The Devil’s Rain is credited with more or less killing the then nascent directorial career of Robert Fuest, who had memorably given horror fans The Abominable Dr. Phibes and its follow up Dr. Phibes Rises Again!. The Devil’s Rain features one of those “is this really happening” aggregations of actors, including Ernest Borgnine as a “devout” Satanist (no, I’m not kidding), Eddie Albert as a scientist investigating ESP and other paranormal phenomena, William Shatner as a guy sent to supposedly bring Borgnine down, Ida Lupino as Shatner’s mother, and Tom Skerritt as Shatner’s brother. Oh, and for the eagle eyed, there’s the debut feature film performance of a young man named John Travolta or something like that (see screenshot 19 for one of the brief looks at him). The film is almost deliriously weird most of the time, and has the further calling card of having employed the High Priest of the Church of Satan, Anton Szandor LaVey, as a “technical advisor”. LaVey is also on hand in the film playing, well, the High Priest of the Church of Satan.
The Devil's Rain is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Film with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Severin's press materials tout that The Devil's Rain has been "restored in HD for the first time ever" without specifying the source for the restoration, but I have to say I was generally pretty impressed with the look of this transfer. Elements like the opening credits look stable, and the palette is very nicely suffused throughout the presentation. There are some passing issues with grain resolution and compression, but they're not overly distracting. Detail levels are often quite good, especially in some of the sun drenched sequences in the ghost town. There are still a few minor specks and scratches, but again nothing overly problematic. I could see some fans thinking this doesn't quite make the 4.0 level, but in motion it's organic looking and quite enjoyable.
The Devil's Rain features a nice sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono mix. The film has some front loaded sound effects, with a torrential storm and then the first of what turns out to be several "melting" moments, but the spare sound design of some of the ghost town material doesn't offer a lot of opportunity for sonic "wow". Dialogue (including those Satanic chants, so be careful) is rendered cleanly and clearly on this problem free track.
It's kind of funny that the film's original marketing materials included on this Blu-ray as supplements repeatedly lump it in with "disaster" fare like Airport and Earthquake, rather than what might be expected as the appropriate analog, horror outings like The Exorcist. Curmudgeons may suggest that it's a subliminal recognition on the part of the marketing team that they were dealing with a "disaster" of another sort, but there's still a patently gonzo aspect to The Devil's Rain that may well agree with some viewers, even if many of those viewers won't be shy in detailing the film's narrative flaws and performance quirks. One way or the other Severin has assembled a nice package here with good technical merits and some outstanding supplements.
1979
2013
Creatures / Warner Archive Collection
1974
1988
2016
1990
2015
2011
Standard Edition
1981
Quella villa accanto al cimitero
1981
2016
1978
2016
1980
Limited Edition of 2,000 copies
1983
2011
House of Death
1982
2015
1989
1971