Review of The Rats (1997) by Karry D — 03 Apr 2009

Made for TV, staring Mädchen Amick as Susan and Vincent Spano as Jack and directed by John Lafia (Child's Play). Susan a manager at a department store is forced to call in a discreet exterminator when a patron is bitten by a rat: Jack. They quickly discover that the rats are carrying a Weil's disease, which kills those whom are bit. Soon after, Jack and Susan attempt to destroy the infestation and uncover a much larger plot.

There are no really good moments in this movie. Rats as an enemy are born two dimensional, meaning that the character interplay has to carry the whole weight of the running time. That means, man against nature, and if the man is not drawn well, it could be hard to suffer through. In this case, it truly is.

You can feel it was made for Television, so dumbed down, whole plot holes, quick pass over character development, and a host of other flaws that leave it feeling flat.

Once you get over the idea that the main characters go from trying to kill some rats to saving the city from an infestation that the city itself doesn't want to believe in, you are left with two really boring characters whose blossoming love interest is dull and just not realistic, which climaxes into a worthless horror show of stupidity and unbelievability.

Near the end I was rooting for the rats.

The rat blood that looks a lot like hot sauce. camarera, rata de sangre, por favor!