Search - The Rats on DVD

One of the best rat films

Joshua Koppel | Chicago, IL United States | 07/07/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A customer at a posh department store is bitten by a rat in a dressing room. As a result, the store fires its current exterminators and hires the best in the city.But the rat is only the start. The store has a big rat problem and it seems to originate outside the store. This is further proved when one of the store managers spots a rat in her home and her daughter is attacked at a recreation center.Slowly we follow the trail of the rats and unravel the mystery behind their origins and attacks.Decent acting and wonderful atmospheric settings help move the story along and keep the viewer neck prickling. Actual rat attacks are slight in number as the story and settings are used to create the rising fear of the rats.I really enjoyed this one except when "the best in the business" baited his trap before setting it for the climactic battle. His competence level had been so high throughout the movie that I found it hard to believe he would intentionally do things backwards. but other than that, this was a surprisingly well-done film."

The Rats: The Return of the Verminous Fifties

Martin Asiner | jersey city, nj United States | 10/19/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Do you remember the grade B monster films of the 50's? Typically the hero was a handsome scientist type who with an equally attractive scientist-girlfriend would meet and defeat a slimy and laughably cheesy monster. Along the way, of course, a number of country-bumpkin types would get gobbled up before the male and female hero leads would discover true love just about the same time as they discovered the monster's Achilles heel. Now flash forward some forty years. Romance between the leads has vanished with the female lead an often tough-talking Sigourney Weaver-type who battles a monster that in terms of special effects and computer animation is far more scary than its predecessors of the 50's. In RATS, director John Lafia has combined the best of both decades of monster making films. There is indeed a romance between the handsome male lead (Vincent Spano) and the ... divorcee (Madchen Amick) who discover their own form of ... love (remember RATS is an updated version of a 50's mentality that did not permit the leads to kiss until the last reel) while battling a massive horde of genetically enhanced superrats. A number of scenes are both amusing and horrifying at the same time. Early in the picture, a slobby landlord who likes to adopt rats suddenly sees a strange-looking addition to his heretofore friendly collection. While the audience is screaming for him to not to approach it, he cooingly sticks his finger in the rat's mouth with a predictable result. Within moments he is, of course, picked clean. Later there is a most amazing scene of rats in a pool, possibly millions of them, squiggling around in a writhing, breathing mess. Into this verminous brew, Miss Amick rather unsurprisingly tumbles. RATS catches the spirit of the long ago monster ethic that demands the viewer to shed an adult perspective and for a few brief hours remember what it was like to show one's fear of the boogeyman by laughing, without ever being sure whether the need to laugh or to gasp is the stronger."

Surprisingly entertaining !

Mian Sukiman | Jakarta Indonesia | 10/30/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Fox has released this made for TV movie into an entertaining DVD. Despite the budget, the movie looks believable. The Special effects are quite good displaying the rats stormed into children's swimming pool and on to the NY city subway train. The story is about genetically enhanced rats that escape from abandoned midtown lab in NY city. Madchen Amick is the leading lady and Vincent Spano plays the exterminator. Madchen Amick is such a great actress, too bad now she only plays in TV movies. The DVD itself is rather good, the picture quality is fine and the Dolby 5.0 (minus subwoofer channel) is OK as this is not a bass heavy movie anyway. Too bad the behind the scenes feature (lasts about 8 minutes) didn't show us much about the special effects and how to make Madchen Amick falls into the swimming pool full of rats.But anyway this DVD deserved to be checked out as it is highly entertaining."

Rat Patrol...

Bindy Sue Frønkünschtein | under the rubble | 08/23/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I've loved killer rat movies ever since I sat mesmerized by the original WILLARD (and it's lesser sequel BEN) back in the early 70s. Something about these furry, much-maligned rodents has always brought a smile to my face and a pleasant chill down my spine. THE RATS is an absurd, yet completely enjoyable return to the good old days of rampaging rodents terrorizing mankind. Garson's department store in mid-town Manhattan is the proverbial "ground zero" for an all-out invasion by millions of genetically-enhanced, über-rats w/ murder on their teeny minds! Madchen Amick (Sleepwalkers, "Twin Peaks") is store manager Susan Costello. It's her job to deal w/ the rat problem, while simultaneously protecting Garson's' exclusive image. Enter Vincent Spano as Jack Carver, discrete exterminator extraordinaire. Carver soon discovers that things are far worse than just a small infestation. Receiving no help from the health dept., it's up to Carver and Costello (weren't they a comedy team?) to eradicate the menace. THE RATS is a lot of fun and moves along at a relatively brisk pace. The rat fx are well done, both cgi and real rats are creepy as well as crawly. Well worth a late-night viewing..."