From zombification to liquefaction

"The Devil´s Rain" from 1975 is one of those typical 1970´s flicks, somewhere in the greyzone between turkey, cringe and classic. It features at least three famous actors: William Shatner, Ernest Borgnine and John Travolta (although the latter wasn´t that well known at the time). One of the minor characters in the film - unclear which one - is starred by Anton Szandor LaVey from the Church of Satan. Which sort of brings me to the plot...

A good Christian family somewhere in the American West are harassed by a mysterious Satanist cult, led by a certain Corbis. The cult is after a book, a kind of dark side bible, which contains the names of the cult members written in their own blood. It turns out that the family´s ancestors in pre-colonial America betrayed Corbis (who is an immortal) and his cult to the Puritans, who unceremoniously burned everyone at the stake. 300 years later, Corbis is still searching for the damned book, while the cult members have been turned into a kind of zombies. It´s not even clear whether the good people are really descendants of the traitors 300 years earlier, or the same family reincarnated! Overall, the plot makes little sense, but does anyone really give a damn? 

After all the usual Satanic rituals (featuring goat-like creatures, inverted crosses and sacrificial maidens), it is finally revealed that Corbis´ supernatural powers come from an ancient machine, known as the Devil´s rain, which can trap the souls of humans - the humans in question being the cult members. Our heroes destroy the Devil´s rain, at which point the zombified humans turn liquified instead, and it´s not even clear whether their immortal souls return to God or are bound for slightly lower elevations. What *is* clear is that Corbis survives, while the soul of the heroine is trapped, perhaps inside a second Devil´s rain... 

In other words, not really a happy ending. Throughout the film, the power of Satan is said to be stronger than that of God, Christians are depicted as treacherous and intolerant, while Corbis - despite his evil machinations - is at least a pretty cool dude, all things considered. The two most cringy moments in the film are when Corbis is possessed by the Devil and turns into a man-goat (he looks decidely less cool!), and when the poor cult members just melt away in the rain, a scene that is arguably too long, even apart from not being convincing even as splatter. 

That being said, "The Devil´s Rain" is nevertheless worth watching if you like 70´s nostalgia, especially of the more apocalyptic or faux horror kinds.