CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

spencergrande6 Interestingly enough, after this film came out in 82, it was immediately followed by Of Unknown Origin in 83 and then Rats in 84. What kind of originator of a minor genre craze could disappoint? Um, well, this one.Easily the weakest of the rat films I've seen. The storyline diverges all over the place, forgets plot lines, crisscrosses with other ones at random only to forget them again and altogether makes little sense. This isn't surprising considering the credited sources. It's based on a novel, which was turned into a screenplay draft and then that draft was re-drafted into another screenplay. And all of it got mashed together into this unholy mess.That wouldn't even be that big of a deal if the movie at least delivered some actual thrills and fun but it can't be bothered to do that. All the giant rats are actually small dogs in rat suits, and they're adorable to the extent you recognize them as such. The "terror" scenes are poorly plotted and lack imagination or tension. There's no B-movie bloodletting (Robert Clouse probably thought himself better than that, and he may well be, but saddled with this screenplay he should have known better).

Scott LeBrun Rats in Toronto become a ravenous, deadly strain after feasting on grain that had been contaminated with steroids. When all of the grain is burned up, the rats head for the sewers, periodically coming out to start feasting on many unlucky human victims. The unlikely heroes of the piece are science teacher & basketball coach Paul Harris (Sam Groom) and health inspector Kelly Leonard (Sara Botsford), who realize what they're dealing with and try to save the people occupying a new subway line.Author James Herbert was none too pleased with this not particularly faithful film version of his novel. As directed by Robert Clouse, a man better known for martial arts classics like "Enter the Dragon" and "Game of Death" (the latter is seen on a theatre screen here), it's adequate entertainment. At least this viewer can say that its pacing is quite effective. The rats do claim a fairly high body count, including an infant. Clouse creates some decent atmosphere in some of the shots and underground sequences, although there's never really very much tension throughout the thing. Most genre buffs already know that the rodent menaces were actually played by dachshunds wearing costumes and rather crude rat faces. Some viewers may well wish there was a lot more gore. One good touch is to have this story take place in the wintertime, which does add to the atmosphere. The cast is rather nondescript but certainly likable; Groom and Botsford are reasonably engaging leads. Lovely Canadian scream queens of the time Lisa Langlois and Lesleh Donaldson co-star (Langlois plays a student of Grooms' who in a subplot develops an infatuation with him), but the one person who is really worth watching here is ever lovable Scatman Crothers, who you really miss when he's gone.Unfortunately, the climax isn't all that exciting, and the ending is quite unsatisfying. Overall the movie is quite amusing if not exactly very good.Five out of 10.

Darkling_Zeist THE RATS (Robert Clouse) This little documented B-monster mash up turned out to be quite an amusing time-waster concerning the mainly human diet of a ravening plague of dachshund-sized rats in downtown Toronto. The real problem with the film is that it is meant to be based on James Herbert's scuzzball splatterfest, and outside of cribbing the title, Clouse ill-advisedly decided to eschew Herbert's wall-to-wall grume and stick to a more conventional modus operandi, which plays like a 1950's Bert I. Gordon quickie, but it's this very anachronistic take on the genre which I found so appealing; 'Deadly Eyes' would make a great double bill with the equally ludicrous, but entirely fantastic 'Food Of The Gods'. A particularly amusing moment (reminding one of 'The Blob') is the sequence in the packed cinema with a clutch of appreciative, vocal fans enjoying the classic sequence from 'Game of Death' where Bruce Lee makes light work of lanky titan, Kareem Abdul Jabbar; when suddenly the rampaging rats chew their way through the shrieking audience; bloody marvelous! Yes, the script is banal, with all the characterizations and performances, outside of the delightful Scatman Crothers cameo being completely perfunctory, but miraculously all this lumpen silliness manages to translate into acceptable late-night fare. (Admittedly it's one of those uninspired schlockers where one's lack of sobriety plays a role in the degree of entertainment said film affords).

Chase_Witherspoon Cat-sized rats, laced-up on steroid enriched grain apparently destined for starving kids in Africa, overrun the city as former chop-socky filmmaker Clouse applies his unique, high contact brand of action/horror. Breaking with convention early, his sewer mob spirit away a toddler from its high chair – a trail of blood and an empty wonder suit greets the hysterical mother, a scene sure to disaffect plenty of parents so early in the piece, they may not stay for the blood bath still to come. Local teacher and single dad Groom investigates the strange goings on, while courting the attentions of Health official (Botsford) and attempting to dissuade those of an infatuated student (Langlois).The versatile vaudeville performer Crothers is wasted in a frivolous supporting role, while veteran Canadian actor Linder is also given little respect. Langlois is the most vivacious characterisation, giving conviction and dimension to the sexually confident and nubile young student, enamoured by the worldly but unattainable Groom. Clouse even manages to stage a rat attack during a Bruce Lee cinema retrospective at which his film "Game of Death" is played on the big screen, for those who might appreciate an in-joke.It's formula filmmaking and Clouse handles both the characterisations and action sequences with adept skill, albeit with little attention to detail or continuity. Groom is an affable leading man, Botsford a more attractive proposition (there's even a fire-lit love scene to really set the mood), and the daschunds dressed in sewer rat costumes, almost look cute in some scenes, as they scamper from one mark to the next below aerial shots that clearly display their canine features. Extremely bloody with plenty of limb gnawing, bone chewing gore, "Night Eyes" is the perfect late night viewing experience.