THE DEVIL'S RAIN
I'm melting, melting...
Travolta, Borgnine, and Shatner, together at last. Actually, Travolta only gets in two words, and they're both the same word ("Blasphemer! Blasphemer!").
The plot of this one concerns a Satanic cult (technical- advised by Anton LeVay, no less) who's been chasing this one family of former members for centuries trying to get their hands on this book. The cult's headed by Ernest Borgnine, and the family in question has Tom Skerritt and, yes, William Shatner. That's about it for plot.
Characters aren't too interesting either, but then again, they never are when Shatner's involved in something that doesn't have a "Star Trek" in its title. The appeal of this flick is in watching a bunch of robed, sinister-looking people without eyes act all Satanic.(including John Travolta, who probably leaves this one off of his resume these days).
The box impressed me with one of the most outrageous claims I've read on a horror box lately - I mean, I read these claims all the time, and I love them, but I don't think I've seen anything as good as this lately: "The Most Incredible Ending Of Any Motion Picture Ever!" I swear, that's what it says. Is it the most incredible ending of any motion picture ever? Well...no. In fact, I don't think I'd even rank it substantially high. But it is pretty cool. Lots n' lots of melting people. And I mean a LOT of melting people. I was reminded of Fulci's tendency to linger on a gore shot for far, far, FAR longer than is necessary to get the point across - all this melting just goes on forever! And it's pretty disgusting, which is a tribute to how good the makeup is. (extra points for cheesy but very well-done "Devil" makeup on Borgnine)
The box says Rated R, the notice at the end of the film says Rated PG. Could be either, considering that the vast majority of the violence is against wax-bleeding cult members who are only vaguely human. Not really recommended, except for aficionados of people that go "squish".