Rats: Night of Terror (1983) from Tuna

Ratti: notte di terrore, or Rats Night of Terror, has strong plusses and minuses.

NUDITY REPORT

see the main commentary
The intro is a narrative about the nuclear holocaust, and the fact that those who survived lived underground, then a group split off and decided to live on the surface. We are told that the underground people have little respect for the above ground people. That intro puts us in a bombed out town with a gang of bikers. It is not until the end of the film that we get a payoff to the opening. Basically, the bikers feel like the town is infested with rats, and the rats think bikers look a whole lot like dinner.

DVD info from Amazon.

  • Widescreen anamorphic, 1.85:1

  • Hell Rats of the Living Dead an all new interview with director Bruno Mattei

Moune Duvivier gets naked in a sex scene (that is a plus right there), and is killed in a very effective way. She zips herself into a sleeping bag after sex. A rat sneaks in. Cut to her friends finding her. They partially unzip the sleeping bag, and see no marks. Then, a rat crawls out of her mouth.

Minuses mainly had to do with slow pace, broad overacting, and awful dubbing into English. The transfer was not bad for the age of the film. It scores only 2.9 of 10 at IMDB, but I think it had moments. Not many, but some.

The Critics Vote

The People Vote ...

  • With their votes ... IMDB summary: IMDB readers say 2.7/10, approaching the all-time worst list
  • with their dollars ...

 

IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or 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. 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.

Based on this description, this film is a C-. (Below average genre film acceptable to genre enthusuiasts) Scoop's notes: for balance, read the reviews at IMDB. The first one is hilarious.

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