Burial of the Rats (1995)

I love this movie so much

Very well executed

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Story Synopsis: While travelling across Russia in their carriage, a young Bram Stoker & his father are attacked by bandits accompanied by a horde of rats that devours the driver. Bram kills one of the attackers to protect his father but is captured by the bandits. Taken to their hideout, an old castle, Bram is shocked to discover that the bandits are actually scantily-clad women who shun the rule of men. He is sentenced to die but is saved by one of the "Rat Women" who falls in love with him. The queen of the Rat Women then discover that Bram has formidable writing skills, a discovery that prompts them to use Bram as a PR exercise in order to give them infamy. While some of the Rat Women try to discredit Bram, the local town, having a gutful of their raids, sends a garrison of troops to the castle in order to wipe them out.Film Analysis: Sometimes you've got to love the way Roger Corman operates. When he found out that one of Russia's film studios was going kaput, he decided to cannibalise some of their sets & write a story around it. The subsequent production was produced by Anatoly Fradis, later to become infamous among zombie fans due to his involvement in the ham-fisted sequels RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD: NECROPOLIS & RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD: RAVE TO THE GRAVE. As a horror film, Burial of the Rats is as bare as the chests of the female bandits cavorting around in it. There is a lot of supple flesh on offer here (in particular the love scene between hero Kevin Alber & his love interest Maria Ford) as well as some unintentional laughs to be had with the bandits' pet rats (who act like furry piranhas, turning their victims into bleached skeletons within seconds!).The story is fairly simple – a young Bram Stoker being abducted by a clan of women who despise men, only to become their hero thanks to his lurid tales of their raids – so there is not much to go wrong with it, at least from a narrative point of view. But in their quest to go the cheapest route possible, producer Fradis, director Dan Golden & their writers forget to write an innovative story. Instead they fill the film with blood, sex & killer rats. The story has some really absurd plot devices – the idea of the rats turning their victims into skeletons is a real howler, given that rats are incapable of doing such a feat (at least not within 30 seconds).What elevates this film from forgettable trash to functional mediocrity is the acting. Kevin Alber does a pretty good job of playing a gentleman who has his eyes opened wide enough for him to get the experience needed to write one of horror literature's great masterpieces (the novel Dracula) & even having a little fun doing so. Maria Ford makes a rather bland love interest while Adrienne Barbeau has a lot of fun playing the demented queen of the bandits.

Not usually my piece of cake but this dedicatedly cheesy treatment is extremely sophisticated in it's subtext. Of course you can't take the story seriously--that would be missing the point. Each step is a mindless cliché so you don't have to concentrate--the plot is wonderfully juvenile, thinly disguised soft core sadomasochistic fantasy--but wow the unreality it creates is absolutely breathtaking. The underground scenes--a utopia in reverse--dawn on you gradually. The dancing is sensual,quite beautiful, extremely well done-skillfully conceived and executed. And a whole cave society of beautiful women--each one more beautiful than the next--dressed in black leather bikini's --their waists severely cinched with black leather belts. Female dominance armed with knives and swords. By the time they attack the prison, you realize that these women don't just look nice they really know how to sword fight as well as any man. It makes me really proud of them. Expertly choreographed fight scenes. Inane special effects violence is intended to be funny instead of realistic--but watching these chicks is well worth it. I've never seen anything like it and enjoyed it very much.

Okay, Burial Of The Rats. The most obscure Bram Stoker book ever! I mean, I never heard of it until this movie came out. Roger Cormen is not the best Producer, writer or director. But he does give respect where respect is due. If you ever watched one of Cormen's Poe pieces, then you know what I mean and I believe that Cormen gives Stoker's Rats the same respect that he did Poe's Raven. But I'm not sure if this particular book translates well into a movie, even one made for cable. I really can't put my finger on it, but BURIAL OF THE RATS is missing something. It's not bad, but it seems to be missing something in the story. But still, the cast do a great job, the rats are cool. It's fairly descent. I give it 7 STARS.

A wonderful breastfest. Roger Corman knows how to make a great movie. Nicely done tit for tat with Bram Stoker and the Queen's favorite. This same stable of people made a group of these overseas for a cable network in 1995.