Italy, UK, 1977
96m (USA), 101m 50s (UK), 106m
35mm film, Technovision, Technicolor, 2.35:1
mono, English
An Italian/British horror film directed by Alberto De Martino.
Plot Summary
Industrial executive Robert Caine is building a massive nuclear power plant in the Middle East. But he comes to learn that his son Angelo in actually the Antichrist who has his own agenda for wanting to see the power plant completed – could he be planning to use it to bring about the prophecies of a “rain of fire?”
Credits
* = uncredited
Crew
Directed by: Alberto De Martino
© Embassy Productions, Aston Films Ltd. 1977
The Rank Organisation presents. Embassy Productions, Aston Films
Executive Producer: Edmondo Amati
Screenplay by: Sergio Donati, Alberto De Martino, Michael Robson
From an original story by: Sergio Donati and Alberto De Martino
Director of Photography: Erico Menczer
Film Editor: Vincenzo Tomassi
Music by: Ennio Morricone
Sound Recordists: Peter Hanford; David Stevenson *, Trevor Rutheford *
Costume Designer: Enrico Sabbatini
Chief Make Up: Penny Steyne
Hair Stylist: Colin Jamison
Special Effects: Gino De Rossi *, Giannetto De Rossi *
Art Director: Umberto Bertacca|Uberto Bertacca1Umberto Bertacca is erroneously credited as Uberto Bertacca
Made on location in England and Tunisia and at Twickenham Film Studios, London, and at Rizzoli Palatino, Rome
Locations: Bigbury-on-Sea, Devon, England, UK *
Cast
Kirk Douglas (Robert Caine)
Simon Ward (Angel Caine)
Agostina Belli (Sara Golan)
Anthony Quayle (Professor Griffith)
Virginia McKenna (Eva Caine)
Alexander Knox (Meyer)
Geoffrey Keen (gynaecologist)
Spyros Focas (Harbin)
Ivo Garrani (the Prime Minister)
Massimo Foschi (Arab assassin)
Alan Hendricks (fanatical demonstrator)
John Carlin (Robertson)
Peter Cellier (Sheckley)
Gerard Hely (Clarke)
Caroline Langrishe|Caroline Horner (Angel’s girlfriend) 2Caroline Langrishe is erroneously credited as Caroline Horner
Penelope Horner (Caine’s secretary)
Adolfo Celi (Dr Kerouac)
Romolo Valli (Monsignor Charrier)
Jenny Twigg (air hostess)
Richard Cornish (1st journalist)
Alternative Titles
The Chosen
Holocauste 2000 – France
Inferno 2000 – Germany
Rain of Fire – USA
Terrori 2000 – Finland
Wybrani – Poland
Links
See also
The Omen (1976)
Press
1978
Monthly Film Bulletin vol.45 no.530 (March 1978) p.47
The wildest farrago yet to have come out of the demonology genre, combining all sorts of down-to-earth issues – ecology, the energy crisis, the dangers of thermonuclear power – along with the hocus-pocus. […] Predictably, the religious allegory adds little weight to the confusion of the plot – with the exception of one pretentious dream sequence – and the mayhem and gore is of a very straightforward, unsupernatural kind. More disturbing – and objectionable – finally than all the trumpeting about holocaust and the end of the world (which is entirely diffused by the lamely inconclusive ending) is the attempt to whip up suspense over the prospect of an enforced abortion and the Snake Pit-type sequences set in an asylum. – from a review by Richard Combs
Hammer’s Halls of Horror vol.2 no.9 (June 1978) p.16-17
[A] shoddy imitation of The Omen and once again we find ourselves watching a story about an Old Testament prophecy concerning the arrival of the Anti-Christ being fulfilled in present day England – a process punctuated by a series of carefully spaced, gory deaths. But whereas The Omen was slick and exciting on a purely technical level, despite its basic emptiness, this Italian/British rip-off is both clumsily made and boring. […] I don’t like to review a film without saying something nice about it and, though in this case I’m tempted to make an exception, I shall continue with the tradition no matter how difficult it may be. Let’s see now… hmmmm… well, the special effects are good (the beheading of the Prime Minister registered 8 out of I0 on my “Great Beheading Scenes in the Cinema” scale), the photography is fine and the acting is okay. Kirk Douglas gives his usual vital, gutsy performance – spitting out the absurd dialogue through acres of clenched teeth as if he really believed it – and it was nice to see Virginia McKenna on the screen again. Come to think of it, her performance was somewhat gutsy too… and on that note of appropriate bad taste I shall take my leave of this silly film. – from an illustrated review (by John Brosnan)
References
Periodicals
- Film Bulletin vol.47 no.4/5 (April/May 1978) – review
- Films and Filming vol.24 no.6 (March 1978) pp.33-34 – review
- Hammer’s Halls of Horror vol.2 no.9 (June 1978) p.16-17 – illustrated review (by John Brosnan)
- Monthly Film Bulletin vol.45 no.530 (March 1978) p.47 – credits, synopsis, review (by Richard Combs)
- Screen International no.87 (14 May 1977) p.14 – credits
- Screen International no.90 (4 June 1977) p.16 – note
- Screen International no.127 (25 February 1978) p.17 – review
- Variety 11 January 1978 p.27 – credits, review
Books
- American International Pictures: A Comprehensive Filmography by Rob Craig p.232
- American International Pictures: A Filmography by Robert L. Ottoson pp.310-311 – credits, synopsis, review
- The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror by Phil Hardy (ed.) p.322
- English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby pp.270
- Euro Gothic: Classics of Continental Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby p.353
- Film Review 1978-79 by F. Maurice Speed p.149
- Horror and Science Fiction Films II by Donald C. Willis p.59
- Nuclear Movies: A Filmography by Mick Broderick p.84
- Rock ‘n’ Roll Monsters: The American International Story by Bruce G. Hallenbeck p.271
- Variety Science-Fiction Movies by Julian Brown (ed.) p.54 – illustrated credits, review
- The World of Fantasy Films by Richard Myers p.30
- X-Cert 2: The British Independent Horror Film 1971-1983 pp.241-245; 288-289
