User Reviews

Oh, not more of this! Rats again?

They don't make for good movie villains.

It stars Madchen Amick. Wasn't she in King's 'Sleepwalkers?'

So, Romy or Michelle is casing Macy's over, and judging by her demeanor, she's going to steal the first item that's unmanned. This must be an old movie when honesty and trust were common traits, as today it's all under lock and key.

O la la, take it off, lady. Miss Perfection is here in the change room, stripping down and about to reveal the goods. Just as she's about to reveal all, some swift editing denies the viewer their just desserts. That's not fair. What a tease. I was willing to credit this movie with some bonus points for that scene alone, but now it's angered me.

"You live in the city; you're gonna have rats." It's nice to know Macy's has an infestation problem. I bet they don't have any at Harrods.

It looks like the first victim to fall will be Ricardo Lopez. He's the janitor of the lead actress's building.

Another fine beauty models a blue bikini by an indoor poolside. There are three good-looking ladies in this movie, and I thought they were all the same person. But this bikini instructor is the main actress's babysitter and housekeeper. I think. I need clarification on that.

Jack Carver is employed to eradicate Macy's rat problem, and if he's an exterminator, then I'm Hawaii's president.

Is that Marisa Tomei?

The model exterminator, with a PhD in psychics, brings an accomplice along, and they use luminol to highlight all the rats atrocities at Macy's, and there's crime scene evidence strewn everywhere.

The rats make their presence felt at a local swimming pool, and we see "The Body" run over a blocker who's only 8 years old. It reminds me of Costanza bowling over all the kids in front of Eric the clown.

Hmm, how convenient that the model exterminator, with a PhD in arithmetic, is the love interest for Marisa Tomei.

What is it with catastrophic, disaster action movies, and the time to find love among all the chaos?

Here's a guy on peanuts per hour; she lives in upstate New York, and they're compatible after only a day? Who's buying for a second that this Broadway pretty boy works with pesticides? The casting for this is all wrong again.

Um, hello, does anyone else find it strange that he's called in to exterminate the infestation at Macy's but tends to no other jobs on the side the entire time? The movie spans over a week. It only takes a quarter of the day for real bug sprayers to do their jobs, not over a span of days.

This is slowly sinking into a pit of misery.

As if a floor manager at Macy's would join the two exterminators on an underground tour to inspect vermin in a dangerous environment.

Frigging Jason's down here somewhere.

"I don't like this, Jack." Of course you don't, sweetie; you're not even supposed to be down here in the first place, as it breaks work regulations and protocol for the exterminator boys. You're a liability.

Wow, look at the floor manager of Macy's developing the hots for a contracted exterminator. Do you know how absurd that sounds?

I'm against animal cruelty, but hooray for Marisa Tomei driving over that rat and splattering it like the road kill it deserves to be. I have no love for vermin. And I despise people dressed in tight denim and sporting a rodent on their shoulder.

Is that Natalie Portman?

She quits her job as floor manager of Macy's to go pursue a career in an extermination squad while playing detective to shake down a laboratory that created these crossbred rodents. Can you hear yourself, movie?

No sooner does she join Team Extermina, are they breaking and entering a private residence and committing felonies? Out the door goes the last of her decadence, just to dwell in a disease-ridden crack house, searching for answers to the hordes of rat armies. Talk about a fall from grace overnight. "Hi mom." "Hello dear." "I'm now an exterminator working for two college dropouts." "You're what?"

Team Extermina comes full circle when the model, with a PhD in science, worms his way to Natalie Portman's apartment, and in about five minutes, no doubt they'll be sleeping together. He wins over her daughter by capturing one rodent, and soon he'll be her stepfather in world-record time.

This chick left her million-dollar-a-year job to become totally dependent on the exterminator's salary.

He didn't even bait the traps and plug the holes as promised at the start of the movie. They're doing nothing but over-analyzing scenarios throughout the whole movie instead of implementing any action.

I wish Jason would appear just to throw a spanner into the mix.

It turns out the rats were attracted to a certain brand of Mennen cologne, which is preposterous, and Team Extermina lured the bulk of the rodents to a swimming pool with skin bracers rigged to an electrical component that fries them to a golden crispy brown at the end. Serve with sour cream.

I can't let it slide how Portman fell into the pit of rodents for 5 minutes, and not one rat bit her the whole time. She must have been wearing the wrong-numbered Chanel or had rodent repellent on. They had no problem biting other saps.

**SPOILERS** Skin crawling horror flick involving genetically altered mutant rats who, when excited, rampage through the subways and sewers of New York City devouring any and everything that happens to get in their way.

These "cute" and "cuddly" little critters come on the scene in of all places the upscale and swanky Garsons Department Store where the rich and famous do their shopping. The mystery of way these hoards of infected, with Weils Disease, and flesh eating rodents choose Garsons is later found out by the store's manager's Susan Costello, Madchen Amick, 12 year-old daughter Amy, Daveigh Chase, That happens late in the movie. Which by that time the rats were coming out of their underground hideouts-by the millions-to do battle with the entire population of NYC!

It's up to ace exterminator Jack Carver, Vincent Spano, and his rat a**-kicking sidekick Ty, Shawn Michael Howard,to not only find where these rats are hiding but to zap them, with explosives and state of the art rat poison, before they by breeding with the much meeker and less aggressive local city rats create a rat army of over 100 million giant mutant rodents. In no time at all this giant rat army will not only overrun the Big Apple but end up killing, with the deadly Weils Disease, half of the US population; Like they did back in Europe in the 14th century by spreading the Black Plague!

***SPOILERS*** As you would have expected it's the top city leaders like Health Department's head Ray Jarrett, David Wolos Fonteno, who do more to have the mutant and killer rats getting out of control then anybody else. Jarrett doesn't want the public to be alarmed by the thought that millions upon millions of killer rats are secretly breeding right under their feet in the NY Subway System and are about to explode and overrun the city. This insane reason by Jarrett gives the rats every opportunity, in not being hunted down and killed by Carver & Ty, to do exactly what the not too on the ball Jarrett is in fact trying to prevent them from doing!

Ferocious and gut-spilling final with the rats spilling into the city's underground subway system and terrorizing the unsuspecting strap-hangers to the point where more people end up dying from strokes and heart attacks then from the rats themselves! Carver realizing what's turning the rats on, something that's sold at Garsons Department Store, lays a trap for them at the midtown Recreation Center's massive Olympic size swimming pool. The far too shocking, for those of us in the audience with weak stomachs, and mind blowing ending has to be seen to be believed! With the rats, now numbering ten times more then the entire NYC population, spilling into the recreation's swimming pool with the added attraction of Susan, who accidentally sipped into the pool, being swarmed all over by them! This makes Carver plan in blasting the rats to kingdom come, with Susan's life in danger of being blasted along with them, that much more difficult!

P.S The made for TV movie "The Rats" was to be broadcast on the evening of Tuesday September 11, 2001 on FOX TV Network. By then people had a lot more on their minds then rats and rodents which was why the film was rescheduled for a later, and less stressful, date.

For a horror/thriller movie called "The Rats", this one is almost as good as any could be. The plot is predictable and the dialog cheesy, which makes this 2002 film feel like it was written in the 1940s. Mädchen Amick's acting style reminds me of Jennifer Lopez'. The opening sequence, which alternates between a woman trying on clothes in a department store and a rat crawling through the walls, is not how the entire movie plays. In fact, the opening scene was the hardest part of the movie for me to sit through. Beyond the first rat-human encounter, the film is Indiana Jones-style fun without Spielberg quality. The Rats is by no means a perfect or thoughtful film, but the film is remarkably fun.

Is this a straight to TV film by any chance? It certainly felt like it from the get go although this wasn't as tacky and cheap as other films I've seen in the last five years so credit where credit is due, it's not as bad as it easily could have been. Let's face it, there have been lots of films made already which deal with rats as a theme so this wasn't anything startlingly new but it was handled in a refreshing way.

Fuelled by narrative rather than blockbuster action this film trundles along nicely and doesn't do anything too wrong. It's got suspense and tension and the special effects and minor use of CGI work well.

A New York department store noticed it had a minor pest problem, they called in the professionals to deal with it who uncover that the minor problem is in fact a lot worse than thought. Meanwhile other reports circulate pointing towards the problem being less localised than just the store. The exterminator becomes detective and finds out that the rats are a rouge swarm which have been manipulated and mutated by science. Left abandoned the rats do the natural thing and try and support themselves to escape the science lab and live. In doing so they become a menace to the local populace as they nibble, bite and spread disease. Can the exterminator crack the problem and save the city before the problem gets out of hand?

5 out 10

I wasn't sure what to think about this movie when I found it online and decided to download it. After watching it, I can happily say that it was an entertaining, effective little horror movie.

It's really what the title says. Rats invade Manhattan and start to get aggressive and even kill people. It's a bit cliché at times, but the movie has it's moments.

I liked the acting of most characters, especially the kind rat exterminator. He made me laugh several times.

The Rats is certainly not a bad movie. It's not the BEST horror movie out there using normal creatures as a theme, but they did use real rats for most scenes. So that deserves a thumb up.

I give this movie 7 out of 10 stars.

As someone who has kept rats as pets and knows what wonderful companions they can be, I am usually disappointed by the way they are portrayed on the screen. Yes, this is a somewhat silly movie, but on the whole it worked very well and my perpetual ratty craving was well-satisfied with so many closeups of sleek, well-fed rodents.

I was delighted to see Mädchen Amick in this film - recognising her name from 'Twin Peaks' but not immediately being able to remember her character. She looks fantastic and it made me realise just how young she was when she played Shelly Johnson.

I was also delighted with the CGI, particularly for the "fountains of rats" scene at the empty pool. Yes, it was silly, and we did laugh, but all those pretend rats actually looked real, not like static cut-outs pasted over and over, and not like the typical joke-store rubber effigies either. As for the scenes with real rats, they were beautifully done, especially the closeups.

I'm pretty demanding when it comes to CGI and animatronics, particularly for animals. I'm critical of angles, texture and lighting, and many films have been spoiled (imo) by their too-glossy critters which just can't be taken seriously in the context of their roles. I remember being astonished after seeing 'Congo' when it came out - I hadn't been able to pick the fake apes and that's something that I usually do pretty much automatically (having spent some hands-on time with chimpanzees in my childhood and being generally obsessive on the subject). I can pick a person in a monkey suit nine times out of ten, but 'Congo' was the first time I didn't realise I was seeing CGI, and I was hugely impressed.

So, any film that can utilise large numbers of animals and make them realistic... even if you know they have to be CGI... and when those animals are one of the handful of species that I know well enough to tell the difference between the real deal and a mockup... that film gets a big thumbs-up regardless of how silly or painful the rest of it is. In other words, if it weren't for the wonderful proliferation of credible rats in this movie I would have given it a 7, which in my system means "liked it well enough but wasn't anything special". Without Mädchen Amick it might even have been a 6.

The Rats is based on a horror novel by James Herbert of the same title. It is a remake of a low-budget 1982 movie called Deadly Eyes as well, both filmed in Toronto but The Rats takes place in Manhattan whereas Deadly Eyes takes place in Toronto (the novel took place in London). This 2002 adaptation follows the story of the book slightly closer than Deadly Eyes did, and the effects were better in The Rats (in Deadly Eyes wiener dogs dressed in rat suits were used to depict giant killer rats).

I know it isn't really fair to compare a remade movie to its original, but this version of The Rats is bad enough on its own. It's kind of entertaining, incredibly cheesy and for the most part sort of enjoyable, but it doesn't deliver on many levels. Its soundtrack is pretty bad as well, as was the acting.

Deadly Eyes had great soundtrack, it had decent acting and it was a hilarious, cheesy thrill-ride, very different from The Rats. Honestly I don't really think that this movie even needed to be remade, but watching The Rats wasn't a total waste of time. If you're a fan of the novel and original movie you may want to avoid it, but if you're into more modern horror, chances are you'll really enjoy this one.

'The Rats' is a very entertaining film for the kind of movie that it is.

**SPOILERS**

Deep under the streets of New York, an army of rats is gathering. They appear to be far more vicious and smarter than previous New York rats and have no problem attacking people. Susan, (Madchen Amick) is worried about the sudden appearance of rats in her apartment and at the department store where she works. Her fears are justified, as there are thousands of rats that can overpower even the largest person. The department store suffers one victim from the rats, forcing Susan to bring rat exterminator Jack Carver (Vincent Spano) to find the rats. They learn that the store is being secretly turned into rat HQ. With assistant Ty, (Shawn Michael Howard) the three are undeniably convinced of the rat infestation and that the rats are spreading out into the surrounding neighborhood. A close encounter in the local swimming pool confirms everyone's suspicions. Starting with Susan's apartment, they find more and more rats. Not wanting to close down any part of New York due to several important functions in the city, the three exterminators start a giant campaign to stop the rats from taking over and killing off the entire population.

The Good News: I really thought this was a clever movie in that it introduced the rats as villains even before we see the human characters. This is a really refreshing move, since we don't normally see the villain first in movies. The high levels of suspense in this was unexpected. There were plenty of scenes that were pretty suspenseful. The rats converging on the swimmers in the swimming pool, the discovery of the rats' sleeping place, and the descent into the subway looking for them were all pretty suspenseful and helped the movie look that much better. In the hands of a master suspense director, those scenes would be even better. Also, the viciousness of the rats is without question. They are quite vicious and can also assume an intimidating pose. Once we get to the final half-hour of the film, it kicks into high gear and really lets loose with the suspense and action. The train sequence has to be the best example of this, as giant swarms of rats crawl over every inch of subway train as the passengers scramble to get over the horde of oncoming rats. It is a sight to behold as the thousands of rats are seen to climbing over everything inside. It is a wonder how the rats were trained to do such complex maneuvers and stunts. They looked realistic when they were not CGI creations, and were pretty terrifying. Even the action in the film is exciting. There are a lot more action scenes in the film than I would've expected. Most of it does occur in that last half, but there are a lot of these scenes spread out in the course of the film. The only gore scene in the film is a brief shot of a man who has been overrun by the rats, and most of his body is eaten away down to the bone and various ribs are exposed with meat and flesh are still hanging on to them. Not exactly a new level of gore standards, but here it certainly isn't obtrusive.

The Bad News: The CGI generated rats were very fake looking and could be distinguished from the other, real rats. It was even pretty easy to determine what were real rats and what were the fake rats. I am getting very tired of kinds of those films that always depict the leaders of a community that are more interested in saving their public opinion than in saving lives. It has become a very tired cliché in movies since 'Jaws,' and doesn't need to be in any more films. They only come off as uncaring, evil people who meet their fortunate demise late in the film. There isn't a lot of jumps in the film, so it basically relies on the 'ick' factor many people get from rats. If they don't bother you too much, then it might be a little harder for you to like this, but it still isn't that bad of a film.

The Final Verdict: While not a classic by any means and only slightly better than the other rat film released a year later, this is one reasonably entertaining movie. Seek it out if you like rodent films or to those who seek out obscure films to try and find an unseen favorite.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Adult Language, vicious man-on-animal attacks, and Brief Nudity