The Devil's Rain

The Devil's Rain is a 1975 horror directed by Robert Fuest and stars include William Shatner, John Travolta and Ernest Borgnine.  

A ghost town in the desert is central to the story, as its creepy residents are a cult of Satanists that use an abandoned old church for their rituals. A man searches for his missing brother, and stumbles upon the eerie derelict town that isn't what it seemed to be. It's leader is searching for a book that connects to an event that happened there in the town centuries before. That book is the most important object, besides the bottle containing trapped souls hidden in the town.

Fun facts - It was filmed in Durango, Mexico. Many strange things happened during the filming. Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan, worked in this horror film. This was John Travolta's debut.   

My rating - 8/10 a popcorn worthy choice.

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Dead of Night

This 1977 horror is an anthology of stories. "Dead of Night" was directed by Dan Curtis and the cast includes Patrick Macnee, Ed Begley Junior and Ann Doran. 

There are three stories: "Second Chance," "No Such Thing as a Vampire" and "Bobby". While each story is different, there isn't a lack of good spooky atmosphere. The first story is about an old fashioned broken car that seems a bit haunted. The second story is set in the Victorian era and about vampires. The third story is about a grieving mother who uses black magic to get her son back. Typical of 70s horror, it overdoes the screaming and has multilayers of shock. 

Fun facts - One of the three stories was featured in "Trilogy of Terror" in 1996. The film "Dead of Night" is a TV movie, and connected to a 1969 horror film called "Darkness at Blaisedon", which was a pilot for a "Dead of Night" TV series that never happened. However, the DVD of "Dead of Night" released by Dark Sky Films includes "Darkness at Blaisedon."

My rating is 6/10.

(The blog's "warning" and "scary climax" won't be mentioned anymore as I don't want to give away too much and spoil things). 

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Santet

"Santet" is a 2018 Indonesian horror directed by Helfi C.H. Kardit, and among the cast is Kelly Brook, Marcellino Lafrand and Ayu Dyah Pasha. The film also goes by the name "Black Magic."

A man takes his family to Indonesia to visit his poorly mother. His own father committed suicide in the house a while ago, and now his mother is acting strange. The house is full of shadows, and makes his wife and kids uncomfortable. They start seeing things that are not there. Things go wrong and nothing is the same for the family. A brutal and mysterious horror with some mystery. This is full of jump scares and goo. Plenty of atmosphere with thunder and lightning. 

Warning - Don't wear headphones.

Scary climax - Ghost! 

Fun facts - This film was jointly made among three different countries, with Skylar Pictures of Indonesia, GMA Films of the Philippines, and The Annex Entertainment of Canada. 

My rating - 7/10

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Crucible of Terror

 

Crucible of Terror is a 1971 horror, directed by Ted Hooker and starring Mike Raven and James Bolam. The story is about an artist who murdered a model for his creation and then turned her into a bronze statue. While people visit the artist years later, a young woman is afraid and stalked, as she's the object of the crazed artists' sick ideas for making another statue. A bizarre bunch of things going on, such as screaming for no reason, a cave full of toys, an old woman pretending to be a child and just weird people. A mine tunnel leading straight up into the artists' house could've been creepier.

Fun facts - Actress Me Me Lai was uncomfortable and stressed during filming so she went onto have six baths afterwards. The film's scenic beach location is at St Agnes in Cornwall. 

Scary climax - What the eye sees!

My Rating - A blah 2/10

Warning - Flashing lights. 

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