Movie Review: Rats: Night of Terror (1984)
Rats: Night of Terror is a gem. It’s not as terrifying as the title of the film may suggest, but it has a lot of redeeming qualities. Directed by Claudio Fragasso, and Bruno Mattei (credited as Vincent Dawn) and starring Geretta Geretta (Also in Argento’s classic: Demons) among others, this film has a bit of everything for lovers of ’80s horror, grindhouse films, or retro-futurism, and manages to stay in the pocket when it needs to. The time is 225 years after a nuclear holocaust that happened in 2015. (That’s “AB”, or “After Bomb”) and follows a biker gang who is out looting supplies. It’s interesting to see a film from this perspective. Normally there’s one person that plays the hero or a group of victims will be up against the protagonist, but this gang has mounted .50 caliber guns on vehicles, flamethrowers, shotguns, grenades, and a lot of other weapons. Needless to say, they are well-armed.
They stumble upon a bar that leads to an underground bunker where they find a computer, some food, other supplies, a water filtration device, plants growing in an underground greenhouse and it looks to be a sustainable paradise for them. Unfortunately, they also find some human corpses and a lot of rats that are also residents there. The rats used in filming appear to be normal rats, but they were written to be much smarter. They get into the water, chew through tires, and seem to be tracking the people down. It is noted that they don’t seem to want to eat anything but humans.
It’s hard to rate the acting, as the version watched was rented on Amazon streaming, and the voices were dubbed over with American accents. I would have rather have watched it with the original audio and subtitles. The emphasis on words and tone isn’t the same as it would have been in the original audio, and one of the girls even had somewhat of a southern accent in one scene. It just seemed really out of place. There was some good cinematography, though. It couldn’t have been easy to film real rats for scenes, and there were some nice camera shots. The quality of the production wasn’t bad for the time. They had a lot of decent practical effects and did a good job with some imaginative ways the rats would connect with the deaths. There is a twist at the end as well, which was a nice surprise.
In conclusion, this film is definitely going to be a hit for some who like these ’80s niche type of films. If you are looking for something actually frightening it may not be for you, but this is a nice nostalgic look back at ’80s Italian horror.
