A very similar film in tone to Mattei's previous film HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD, RATS also has its fair share of stock footage (nice monument valley flyover in the opening), though the music is actually original.
What could have been an interesting concept (much like the later PLANET OF THE APES movies or the game KKND where nuke mutants battle advanced underground dwellers) is totally ruined by the idiotic decision to focus this movie on an assault by killer rats. The whole crux of the film completely relies on the rats to be scary enough to keep up the suspense, but they fail right off the bat. There's nothing scary about them - just the fear of stepping in or accidentally eating their feces.
What kills this film even more is Mattei's hands-off directing approach. You can tell the actors were not given any instruction and to just improvise in the many lengthy wide-angle shots of everyone. There's minimal close-ups to heighten drama, and frequent overacting. It's all quite amateurish besides the lighting and music (which is good besides the snooze-inducing main overture). What little gore there is is so badly done, it's not even laughable.
Mattei did MUCH better with his far more entertaining (and funnier) action films in the late 80's. His "best" work in horror/sleaze would be the two women-in-prison films he made around the same time as this film. RATS is just boring. A huge bummer. I don't know why Mattei himself considered this his best film... I've seen more of his work than most people (I adore ROBOWAR and STRIKE COMMANDO) but I absolutely loathe this sleep-inducing film.
What could have been an interesting concept (much like the later PLANET OF THE APES movies or the game KKND where nuke mutants battle advanced underground dwellers) is totally ruined by the idiotic decision to focus this movie on an assault by killer rats. The whole crux of the film completely relies on the rats to be scary enough to keep up the suspense, but they fail right off the bat. There's nothing scary about them - just the fear of stepping in or accidentally eating their feces.
What kills this film even more is Mattei's hands-off directing approach. You can tell the actors were not given any instruction and to just improvise in the many lengthy wide-angle shots of everyone. There's minimal close-ups to heighten drama, and frequent overacting. It's all quite amateurish besides the lighting and music (which is good besides the snooze-inducing main overture). What little gore there is is so badly done, it's not even laughable.
Mattei did MUCH better with his far more entertaining (and funnier) action films in the late 80's. His "best" work in horror/sleaze would be the two women-in-prison films he made around the same time as this film. RATS is just boring. A huge bummer. I don't know why Mattei himself considered this his best film... I've seen more of his work than most people (I adore ROBOWAR and STRIKE COMMANDO) but I absolutely loathe this sleep-inducing film.