Before ‘Grease’ or ‘Carrie,’ John Travolta Appeared in This Bizarre Cult Horror Movie

THE DEVIL'S RAIN, John Travolta, 1975. — Everett Collection

The devil was truly in the details back in the summer of 1975. American drive-ins and grindhouses were populated by a bevy of Satanic-themed shockers, films that were conceived and executed in the wake of William Friedkin‘s The Exorcist and its meteoric success. Among them was The Devil’s Rain, released on August 7th of that year, directed by Robert Fuest of The Abominable Dr. Phibes.

Occult influence upon the silver screen wasn’t exactly new back in ’75; previous efforts like 1968’s Rosemary’s Baby, 1970’s The Dunwich Horror, and 1971’s The Mephisto Waltz (starring a pre-M*A*S*H Alan Alda) had already tapped into the mystical curiosity of this era. This was a time where the shadows of Vietnam still loomed large over the zeitgeist, and where Anton LaVey’s new, humanist version of Satanism was attracting more people to his cause.

THE DEVIL’S RAIN, 1975

In a reach for veracity, Fuest recruited LaVey to serve as a technical advisor and background actor in the film; it was the former’s consummate showmanship and charisma that helped lend The Devil’s Rain an atmosphere of authenticity. This is a picture that plays its Satanic source material completely straight, as the Preston family (whose members include William Shatner, Tom Skerritt, Ida Lupino and Joan Prather) find themselves at odds against star Ernest Borgnine‘s malevolent high priest, Corbis.

Also in the cast? A young John Travolta, who played one of the Satanic cultists; he’d make his debut as Vinnie Barbarino on Welcome Back, Kotter, the following month, and become an instant teen idol in the process. Coincidentally, it would be via working with costar Prather on this film that Travolta was first exposed to Scientology ( “I wasn’t well and she gave me what’s called ‘an assist’,” Travolta later said of the experience. “I got well very quickly after that, but when I say quickly, I mean 30 minutes later.”)

Flashbacks to colonial New England throughout the film offer a little more insight into the curse that afflicts the Prestons, but the legacy of the film has much more to do with its grotesque special effects than its storyline. The makeup, particularly for Borgnine, is outstanding, specifically when the latter adopts a full nanny-goat beard and horns. Meanwhile, the finale of The Devil’s Rain is just that: rivers of waxy makeup that turn the final twenty minutes into an occult-focused feast for the eyes.

Everett Collection

Speaking of eyes: diehard horror fans likely know full well by know the story of how the Michael Myers mask from John Carpenter‘s Halloween was derived from a store-bought replica of Shatner. The cultists here in The Devil’s Rain all feature pronounced, hollowed-out eyes once possessed by Corbis’ evil. This effect, when placed upon Shatner, is absolutely uncanny. The Star Trek actor even performs that iconic, Michael Myers head tilt for good measure!

Fuest’s film, perhaps predictably, failed during its initial theatrical run, yet achieved new life as a cult classic years later on home video. The Devil’s Rain was notably distributed by Bryanston Pictures, a legitimate business arm of the infamous Colombo crime family of New York. Bryanston also distributed other cult horror films, such as Tobe Hooper‘s Texas Chain Saw Massacre, but was even more infamous for producing the porno chic classic Deep Throat.

Sex, sin and Satan? That sounds like a pretty good time to us.