There is something i don't understand about this film - it appears as if a good film is interspersed with scenes from a bad film, and by that i mean not good and bad writing together; allow me to explain.
The Rain is a film which contains three parallel stories, in three different times, all concerning the same plot element; the first one, in the early 1900s (with David Carradine lead) is nicer, better direction, better lighting, nice post-prod and altogether a decent production, while the second, seems to have been shot at a later date, when the funds ran out, and the production values are much worse. The female lead in the second story is also much worse than any of the supporting.
But on with the review.
The Rain (or Dark Fields, as i know it) is the story of a curse, brought about by the magic of an Indian shaman when he is asked to provide rainfall for a drought-stricken town... human sacrifice is a necessity of course, and thus the curse, and the three stories - the first drought and the pact with the shaman, the curse later in the years and the revelation of the need of sacrifices to a daughter by her cursed parents, and the continuation in the present day. The curse is personified by the shaman's top'hat, which is a nice touch, and The Rain doesn't lack a good many nice psychological touches.
This film has many good points, the first of which is a very creepy story and some decent acting; there is also a modicum of special effects, but again, some good, some truly abysmal, but its best feature is the writing. Though it is unrelated, there is a lot in this film that screams "cthulhu mythos", and in my book that is a good thing.
In the end, what let down this film is not the effort, or the talent, but the money - of which i must assume they didn't have enough of, as The Rain would have truly benefited a lot from better production, casting and photography; however, my opinion is still that a vote of four is way too low - sure, the end result isn't stellar, mostly from the project being too ambitious (at almost two hours long, the film still feels as if it should have been made longer - perhaps as a two part TV production), but as a nice Gothic-horror story, and with it being very watchable, i say ..
Final vote 6/10 - too ambitious, could have been lots better, but horror lovers (and mythos fans) shouldn't miss it
The Rain is a film which contains three parallel stories, in three different times, all concerning the same plot element; the first one, in the early 1900s (with David Carradine lead) is nicer, better direction, better lighting, nice post-prod and altogether a decent production, while the second, seems to have been shot at a later date, when the funds ran out, and the production values are much worse. The female lead in the second story is also much worse than any of the supporting.
But on with the review.
The Rain (or Dark Fields, as i know it) is the story of a curse, brought about by the magic of an Indian shaman when he is asked to provide rainfall for a drought-stricken town... human sacrifice is a necessity of course, and thus the curse, and the three stories - the first drought and the pact with the shaman, the curse later in the years and the revelation of the need of sacrifices to a daughter by her cursed parents, and the continuation in the present day. The curse is personified by the shaman's top'hat, which is a nice touch, and The Rain doesn't lack a good many nice psychological touches.
This film has many good points, the first of which is a very creepy story and some decent acting; there is also a modicum of special effects, but again, some good, some truly abysmal, but its best feature is the writing. Though it is unrelated, there is a lot in this film that screams "cthulhu mythos", and in my book that is a good thing.
In the end, what let down this film is not the effort, or the talent, but the money - of which i must assume they didn't have enough of, as The Rain would have truly benefited a lot from better production, casting and photography; however, my opinion is still that a vote of four is way too low - sure, the end result isn't stellar, mostly from the project being too ambitious (at almost two hours long, the film still feels as if it should have been made longer - perhaps as a two part TV production), but as a nice Gothic-horror story, and with it being very watchable, i say ..
Final vote 6/10 - too ambitious, could have been lots better, but horror lovers (and mythos fans) shouldn't miss it