Bram Stoker's Burial of the Rats

Roger Corman heard that there the famous Soviet-era Mosfilm studio was nearly out of business after the collapse of Communism, so he called them and asked what sets they already had constructed, then wrote some movies around those sets. The idea was to take a handful of American actors to Russia to play the main characters in these films, and to use local talent as the crew, as well as to fill in the rest of the roles (most of the characters don't have any lines at all).

This is one of those films, and is based on a Bram Stoker story.

Stoker and his father are traveling by coach through 19th century France when their coach is stopped by hooded highwaymen, and the driver devoured by rats. When one of the gang goes after Stoker's father, Bram kills the assailant. Next thing you know, Bram has been taken prisoner by the outlaws, who are bikini clad members of the sisterhood of the rats, brave women dedicated to punishing all the men who have ever oppressed women. In fact the sisterhood is dedicated to two main activities in life: siccing their rats on men, and dancing around topless.

Adrienne Barbeau is the queen of the group, and she can control the rats with a flute. Bram was kidnapped by Maria Ford and Olga Kabo, who later vie for his sexual attentions. Although the original plan is for Stoker to die, Ford later saves his life when she realizes that he was just trying to save his father.

Queen Barbeau finally realizes that a writer like Stoker can spread terror into the hearts of men simply by writing about the sisterhood's great work among the chauvinist swine. To research his book, Bram accompanies the women on raids, and is eventually invited to become a sister himself.

NUDITY REPORT

Maria Ford shows breasts in a dark sex scene.
Olga Kabo does a full frontal in a mirror dressing for a raid.
Inna Khokhlushkina, as a rescued prostitute, does a lengthy full frontal.
Several Russian dancers are topless in two or three scenes.

DVD info from Amazon

IMDb readers have this at 3.3 of 10. Some people just don't know how to enjoy a bad movie, and this is one that has major bad movie energy. I think my favorite bit was when Barbeau guillotines one of the rats for dancing out of step. Most of the characters don't have any lines at all. The pre-built sets looked great. As gothic horror, this deserves the 3.3, but as a bad film, it has all the necessary ingredients for great fun.

The Critics Vote ...

The legendary Joe Bob Briggs reviewed this film

The People Vote ...

IMDB summary. IMDb voters score it 3.3/10

The meaning of the IMDb score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics, or a C- from our system. Films rated below five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one and a half stars from the critics or a D on our scale. (Possibly even less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. (C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but will be considered excellent by genre fans, while C- indicates that it we found it to be a poor movie although genre addicts find it watchable). D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well. Any film rated C- or better is recommended for fans of that type of film. Any film rated B- or better is recommended for just about anyone. We don't score films below C- that often, because we like movies and we think that most of them have at least a solid niche audience. Now that you know that, you should have serious reservations about any movie below C-.

Based on this description, this is a C. It is one of those bad movies which are so bad as to be entertaining.