Rats (2003)

Thanks for the memories!

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

A journalist admits herself to a mental health institute to investigate undercover the goings-on behind the curtains of the privately run facility. Things go relatively smoothly until patients start to disappear and an infestation of man-eating rats and a janitor, telepathically controlled by a humongous uber-rat, put a slight damper on her investigations.Not really that much to say about "Rats" other than that, in a wide river of mostly sub-par monster and killer animal movies, it really sticks out as a relatively competent production. The story barely ever drags, with proper rat action taking place at an even pace, the cinematography is good, with some POV shots and unusual camera angles thrown in there to break up the monotony, and the cast, consisting of decent no-names and Ron Perlman as a bonus, never annoys. The special effects are somewhat of a mixed bag, though. While the practical gore effects and the scenes involving actual, live rats were pulled off surprisingly well, the additional computer animations are mostly just a laugh.All in all, if you're looking for a cheap, little thrill involving killer rats, and you can get over some utterly abysmal CGI, then by all means, give this one a try. You could do *much* worse in this genre.

Gutsy reporter Jennifer (a winningly spunky performance by fetching blonde Sarah Downing) poses as the troubled Samantha so she can be admitted into the mysterious sanitarium Brookdale Institute in order to research a possible expose on the place. Jennifer uncovers more than she bargained for when she discovers that the joint is infested by lethal carnivorous mutant rats. Director Tibor Takacs, working from an engrossing script by Adam Gierasch and Jace Anderson, does a sound job of creating a suitably creepy'n'claustrophobic atmosphere, stages the rat attack sequences with a reasonable amount of flair, maintains a steady pace throughout, and further spices things up with a nice smattering of grisly splatter. The mental patients are a colorfully freaky bunch: Bailey Chase as the amiable Johnny Falls, Eileen Grubba as the scrappy, belligerent Rose, Patrick Dreikauss as the twitchy Morgan, Desislava Tenekedjieva as the fragile, suicidal Cypress, and Tarri Markell as spiky junkie Naomi. The rest of the cast are likewise fine in their roles, with especially praiseworthy work from Ron Perlman as humane psychiatrist Dr. William Winslow, Michael Zeliniker as oddball custodian Ernst, Denise Dowse as no-nonsense head nurse Matilda, Sean Cullen as Jennifer's concerned fellow reporter boyfriend Michael, and Michael Hagerty as likable orderly Lenny. Barry Gravelle's polished, shadowy cinematography does the trick. Guy Zerafa's shivery score hits the shuddery spot. While the rats with their glowing red eyes and insatiable flesh-eating appetites are pretty unnerving, the main giant rodent alas proves to be a total washout due to extremely poor and unconvincing CGI effects. That criticism aside, this movie overall sizes up as a nifty little fright feature.

This is so far one the better movies I've ever seen in my whole life. The leading role is gorgeous and the script is really awesome. I even think you have to watch the movie like 2 times before you understand it. And the special effects! Just one word: INCREDIBLE! I don't understand the people who don't like this movie, maybe it's because they don't understand the movie. Too bad that there isn't a sequel.This movie should have been nominated for an Oscar. And the ending was very unpredictable. I've seen this movie with my girlfriend and also she liked it a lot! In fact, it was this movie who brought us together! I will certainly buy this one on DVD.

*SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT*Mighty cheap. Rats are crawling through the rehab center yet no one seems to notice. People start disappearing. No one cares. One of the patients is going to get to the bottom of this. Seems the rats and the janitor have a secret. Cheap rat carnage ensues.Someone brought their Commodore 64 out of storage, dusted it off, saved up their allowance and made these rat effects. The rats looked pretty bad. They had lots of little rats and one big rat. The big guy moved like a komodo dragon. It wasn't convincing. Or good.Another tactical error was to kill the girl with the largest breasts first. Come to think of it, there was no nudity at all. Another error. Why even set a giant rat movie in a rehab center anyway? I know the classic B-movie setup is to keep the action in one setting but surely they could have picked a more fun place to party with rodents.There was a little blood near the end but it was too late. The movie had gone the way of so many cheap B-movie's before it. Dropkicked into the garbage.