Burial of the Rats (1995 TV Movie) User Reviews

Repressed rat women unite!

[lost-in-limbo · 4/10 · 13 January 2007]

Bram Stoker and his father are travelling by horse and carriage, when hooded robbers attack them. Mr Stoker manages to escape, but Bram is taken hostage. They take him back to their hidden lair, where they are revealed to be man-hating women who prefer the company of rats than men. After surviving the tortuous ordeal because of one of his captors. Bram is asked to write down their bold exploits, so that they would become a feared bunch amongst men.

T & A, T & A and T & A… oh yeah, you got dirty rodents as well (supposedly hundreds, no thousands). This cheap made for TV Corman production is downright seedy and all about showing a stunning flock of women in very revealing outfits. If they're not venting out their anger towards men, they're dancing about topless for their queen's pure entertainment. Oh joy! How true is it to Bram Stoker's short story? I wouldn't have a clue, but I think it would be far from it. What might have been a classy Gothic tale descends into pure b-grade schlock, but like you would hope, it keeps it lively and fun. For this type of film it's mostly well made and has some not so good (rats getting the munchies and gnawing down their meals in no time) eye-boggling scenes mixed in with bloody slaughtering, cheesy combat and titillating bidding's. Sleaze hounds will be in heaven. Cue gratuitous soft-core activity now. The way the kinky story is staged, it feels like a tame porno crossed corny exploitation. Looking at the cast and Adrienne Barbeau's name sticks out like a sore thumb. What's she doing here… maybe needed the extra doe? But she tremendously hams it up as the Victorian laced Queen of the vermin. Her divine presence chews up the scenery without losing an ounce of dignity. Hows that?! Though her fashion stylist went bananas with that ever-changing hairstyle! The rest of the performances (made up of mostly Russians) are plain stiff, but there are definite beauties lurking. A fairly tempting Maria Ford is easy on the eyes and Kevin Alber steadily chips in as Bram Stoker. Somewhere there about are Linnea Quigley and Nikki Fritz in extremely minor appearances as rat women. The script was filled with banally leaden dialogues and maybe concentrated on that aspect too much. A standard production is on show, but the clammy sets are well adjusted. Intrusive photography (peeping tom in rat vision) and an overbearing music score lashes out. Dan Golden's direction is simply by the numbers and the absurd screenplay is glaringly feisty and heavily plotted. Plotted? Of course, but you know its still rubbish.

How bad? Real bad. This embarrassingly cruddy and inane trash entertains in a ridiculously senseless sort of way. Only true aficionados of low-grade camp should bother seeking this one out.

Bram Stoker would not be proud...

[paul_haakonsen · 4/10 · 25 January 2016]

While this 1995 movie is based on a Bram Stoker short story, then it doesn't automatically ensure that it will be a successful or interesting movie. And "Burial of the Rats" is not a particularly interesting movie, for sure.

There is only one reason for picking up this movie, and that is singlehandedly because of Maria Ford. Yes, the queen of B-movies is the main attraction in "Burial of the Rats".

The story told in "Burial of the Rats" is about young aspiring author Bram Stoker who is taken captive by a band of amazon-like women when he kills one of the women in order to save his elderly father. Being accepted into the sisterhood, Bram has to write about the amazon's exploits and raiding, in order to instill dread in the hearts of men. And the leader of the sisterhood is capable of controlling rats by the usage of a wooden flute.

Really? Yeah, that is what I thought too! It was just not very interesting, and the transition from short story from 1896 to a movie wasn't particularly exciting or captivating. I think this would have fared so much better had it stayed as a short story.

The acting in "Burial of the Rats" was as to be expected from a movie of this type, so don't get your hopes up. You know what you are getting right from the very beginning.

The choice of having a lot of scantily clad women does not make for a good movie. But I am sure there is an audience for this. And it seemed nothing more than a chance for director Dan Golden to show off semi-naked women. I just personally prefer something else from a movie. And the sex scene was so unnecessary, and it just sleazed up the movie unnecessarily.

However, the soldier costumes were quite good and did seem fairly authentic. So that at least deserves a thumbs up.

There is even some good laughs to be had throughout the movie. I was laughing a lot because of the rats and the way that they managed to consume all flesh and soft tissue of their victims in mere seconds, literally stripping the people to the bone. It was just hilarious.

When it comes to it, then "Burial of the Rats" is a less than mediocre movie, and it wasn't particularly entertaining.

As bare as the Rat Women's breasts.

[DigitalRevenantX7 · 4/10 · 13 October 2013]

Story Synopsis: While travelling across Russia in their carriage, a young Bram Stoker & his father are attacked by bandits accompanied by a horde of rats that devours the driver. Bram kills one of the attackers to protect his father but is captured by the bandits. Taken to their hideout, an old castle, Bram is shocked to discover that the bandits are actually scantily-clad women who shun the rule of men. He is sentenced to die but is saved by one of the "Rat Women" who falls in love with him. The queen of the Rat Women then discover that Bram has formidable writing skills, a discovery that prompts them to use Bram as a PR exercise in order to give them infamy. While some of the Rat Women try to discredit Bram, the local town, having a gutful of their raids, sends a garrison of troops to the castle in order to wipe them out.

Film Analysis: Sometimes you've got to love the way Roger Corman operates. When he found out that one of Russia's film studios was going kaput, he decided to cannibalise some of their sets & write a story around it. The subsequent production was produced by Anatoly Fradis, later to become infamous among zombie fans due to his involvement in the ham-fisted sequels RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD: NECROPOLIS & RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD: RAVE TO THE GRAVE. As a horror film, Burial of the Rats is as bare as the chests of the female bandits cavorting around in it. There is a lot of supple flesh on offer here (in particular the love scene between hero Kevin Alber & his love interest Maria Ford) as well as some unintentional laughs to be had with the bandits' pet rats (who act like furry piranhas, turning their victims into bleached skeletons within seconds!).

The story is fairly simple – a young Bram Stoker being abducted by a clan of women who despise men, only to become their hero thanks to his lurid tales of their raids – so there is not much to go wrong with it, at least from a narrative point of view. But in their quest to go the cheapest route possible, producer Fradis, director Dan Golden & their writers forget to write an innovative story. Instead they fill the film with blood, sex & killer rats. The story has some really absurd plot devices – the idea of the rats turning their victims into skeletons is a real howler, given that rats are incapable of doing such a feat (at least not within 30 seconds).

What elevates this film from forgettable trash to functional mediocrity is the acting. Kevin Alber does a pretty good job of playing a gentleman who has his eyes opened wide enough for him to get the experience needed to write one of horror literature's great masterpieces (the novel Dracula) & even having a little fun doing so. Maria Ford makes a rather bland love interest while Adrienne Barbeau has a lot of fun playing the demented queen of the bandits.

Rat women attack

[Dr. Gore · 2 July 2005]

*SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT*

Bram Stoker gets kidnapped by an all-female cult. The cult of the Rat Women. At first, they want to feed him to the rats because he's another lousy, lying, worthless man. But Bram soon proves his worth to the rat ladies as it becomes clear that his writing powers may be beneficial to their cause. His graphic descriptions of their carnage will drive fear into the hearts of men. One of the rat women, (Maria Ford), starts to fall under his spell. Bram wants to prove his love for his princess and hopefully get out of Rat Women land alive.

As goofy movies about rat women go, this was pretty good. I enjoyed it. Adrienne Barbeau showed as much dignity as a woman with rats crawling on her lap possibly could. Maria Ford was pretty good as the naive sex kitten. She gets topless as do many other rat women. The Queen likes to send rats to do her murderous bidding. These rats must be famished because they strip bodies to the bone faster than a piranha. "Burial of the Rats" has blood, guts, hungry rats and topless rat women. It's got most everything a B-movie needs. It's worth a look.

One last thing, you might be tempted to rent this because you noticed that Linnea Quigley and Nikki Fritz are in it. Don't be fooled. Fritz is in it for five seconds at the most. Quigley pops up three or four times. Both clock in at less than a minute and do absolutely nothing. I found that slightly disappointing because I rented it with the hopes that all of the rat women would get their chance to shine. But some rat women were greater than others. Rats.

Rat Women & such...

[Gothbert · 5/10 · 5 October 1998]

The movie was rented by a friend and myself for a bad movie night. I am glad to say that our hopes were quite fulfilled in this regards. Whether it be the execution on the out of tune rate, unclothing of the evil rat women, or strange antics within the movie. The best part of the movie was when a guard had to remove a hat in order to recognize Stoker.

Don't bother

[HankyP · 3/10 · 30 October 2006]

My first hint should have been that the movie was capitalizing on the fact it was written by Bran Stoker. I was hooping for something better than Bram Stoker's Lair of the White Worm (it would not be difficult) or "Bram Stoker's The Mummy" (the short story was Jewel of the Seven Stars) and was disappointed. This was far worse than the other two. Adrienne Barbeau herself said she only made the movie because she needed a new roof on her house and she had hoped it would never be released.

Shot with no budget (except what was used to pay Barbeau) in an Eastern European country that was under civil war at the time, Burial of the Rats tells the story of Bram Stoker being kidnapped by a cult known as The Rat Women. So right off, we know he will survive or the story will never get written. I have tried to get my hands on a copy of the novella, so I cannot say how this compares to the book, but we have a lot of preaching about how evil civilization and men are, Stoker pretends to follow the Rat Women and promises to champion their cause, the Rat Women pretend to believe him, Barbeau breaks her flute that controls the rats and is eaten alive and if we have not clawed our eyes out yet we go out and get drunk so we can forget the movie.

Made-for-TV schlock

[Film Dog · 2/10 · 21 February 1999]

A really schlockie TV movie. Bram Stoker helps a bunch of Bimbos who're into rats kick butt on all guys. Bram Stoker. No kidding. Adrienne Barbeau is the Queen of the Rat Gals.

Ridiculous fun

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 25 January 2021]

Oh man, this week has taken me to some strange places. Like this made for TV movie - cable, one assumes, because no normal network was going to play this - from Dan Golden. Dan Golden, the man who directed Naked Obsession, Saturday Night Special, Timegate: Tales of the Saddle Tramps and T&A Time Traveler, says the voice inside my head? Yes, my imaginary special friend, the one and the same.

How does one even come to explain this one? One just dives in.

Back in 19th Century France, Bram Stoker - yes, the man who would one day write Bram Stoker's Shadowbuilder and some other book - gets captured by a secret clutch of women who never wear more than bikinis and who have learned to use a flute to hypnotize rats so that they eat men.

Would it surprise you that this is yet another movie where Adrienne Barbeau is the queen of a sect of women who want to kill every man they see? Oh poor Adrienne, who went to Russia to make this and walked right into a coup attempt and then had to deal with the death of most of the trained rats, which meant that she was covered in fish eggs for most of the movie.

Golden used Maria Ford in his movies a whole bunch and she's here, front and center, as is Olga Kabo, perhaps the only actress to be awarded the Meritorious Artist of Russia and then show up in what is basically a Cinemax After Dark movie.

This movie gets major points for having slow-motion sword fights that go on forever, as well as a cute little miniature guillotine that gets used when any of the rats get out of line. You can tell this movie isn't from Italy, because when they kill one of them, it's a puppet.

It loses points for having Linnea Quigley as a rat girl and doing nothing with her. Alas!

This is a movie I would have enjoyed to act in.

[theresahaffner · 7/10 · 14 March 2008]

Not usually my piece of cake but this dedicatedly cheesy treatment is extremely sophisticated in it's subtext. Of course you can't take the story seriously--that would be missing the point. Each step is a mindless cliché so you don't have to concentrate--the plot is wonderfully juvenile, thinly disguised soft core sadomasochistic fantasy--but wow the unreality it creates is absolutely breathtaking. The underground scenes--a utopia in reverse--dawn on you gradually. The dancing is sensual,quite beautiful, extremely well done-skillfully conceived and executed. And a whole cave society of beautiful women--each one more beautiful than the next--dressed in black leather bikini's --their waists severely cinched with black leather belts. Female dominance armed with knives and swords. By the time they attack the prison, you realize that these women don't just look nice they really know how to sword fight as well as any man. It makes me really proud of them. Expertly choreographed fight scenes. Inane special effects violence is intended to be funny instead of realistic--but watching these chicks is well worth it. I've never seen anything like it and enjoyed it very much.

Forget the Rats...admire the great racks the woman show.

[CaptainVideo · 10/10 · 24 August 2003]

A wonderful breastfest. Roger Corman knows how to make a great movie. Nicely done tit for tat with Bram Stoker and the Queen's favorite. This same stable of people made a group of these overseas for a cable network in 1995.

My #1 dirty pleasure

[jokercard88 · 6/10 · 13 October 2002]

I was flipping through channels on night at 9:00(not the best time of day for BotR but it fit in my schedual well). And I came upon this scene in a film where some hot women are torturing this Englishman. I am semi-glad that I stopped for it. The gore effects (like the hand being cut off and the rats getting fat off of what was a priest (so unholy!). Then there's the nudity, The hot black haired girl in the changing room, ect. But the plot is non-existant ofcoarse, and when the women were swordfighting, it looked like the swords weighed 100 pounds, they moan audibly loud each time they make a swing. A mixed bag with major pros and major cons. Good luck seeing it though...I saw it on sho-time oddly enough.

A bad movie lover's delight

[Goreripper · 26 June 2000]

This film exists halfway between softcore lesbian porn and gore-soaked splatter as a cheap exploitation film that tries and then fails to do both, without too much concern for acting or dialogue. Mountains of barely clad female flesh go hand in hand with ridiculous violence in this barely recognisable adaptation of an obscure Bram Stoker story about a coven of rat-worshipping female bandits. While there isn't actually any lesbianism shown on camera the implication of its existence overwhelms virtually every other aspect of `Burial of the Rats'. The story follows the adventure of young Bram Stoker and his father, attacked by the bandits during their travels abroad. The younger Stoker kills one of them and is captured; the elder one tries to convince the local constabulary to search for his missing son even after receiving such matter-of-fact advise as `Go on home, and forget all about your son!' In a matter of hours young Bram has fallen in love with one Barbie-doll proportioned Rat Woman and become sympathetic to the others' cause, even if it entails murderous raids on monasteries and brothels. Meaningless topless dancing scenes and silly violence follow, including a gratuitous torture dungeon sequence and the sight of a bucketful of rats picking a corpse clean to a bleached skeleton in a matter of seconds. That a god-fearing Victorian moralist like Stoker would have even conceived of something like this is unlikely: `Burial of the Rats' is pure William Castle camp from the prison guard who can't recognise the protagonist because he has a hat on (!!) to the ludicrous moment when the Rat Queen plucks a disobedient rodent out of the pack on the floor at her feet and cuts its head off-with a miniature guillotine! Insipid and inane but much more fun than a dozen far more well-made `serious' films, this is a bad movie lovers delight!

Interesting concept but it left me like it was lacking something.

[lordzedd-3 · 7/10 · 19 May 2007]

Okay, Burial Of The Rats. The most obscure Bram Stoker book ever! I mean, I never heard of it until this movie came out. Roger Cormen is not the best Producer, writer or director. But he does give respect where respect is due. If you ever watched one of Cormen's Poe pieces, then you know what I mean and I believe that Cormen gives Stoker's Rats the same respect that he did Poe's Raven. But I'm not sure if this particular book translates well into a movie, even one made for cable. I really can't put my finger on it, but BURIAL OF THE RATS is missing something. It's not bad, but it seems to be missing something in the story. But still, the cast do a great job, the rats are cool. It's fairly descent. I give it 7 STARS.

Hysterically bad

[MIrvin1050 · 10/10 · 5 April 2019]

Adrienne Barbeau should have gotten an Oscar for keeping a straight face. This has the look of something made by high school boys trying to get laid.

good movie!

[skyhowl · 11 January 2006]

i recently saw buriel of the rats and it was great! Yes it was low budget, and yes it featured a mostly unknown cast(with the exception of miss barbeau)but it was entertaining as hell! the story of course follows the tale of author bram stoker and his fathers run with a bunch of cult rat worshipping women..who leader was the pied pipers evil twin sister! The story line alone is worth a look! lecherous priest,scantly clad women,and a young hero looking to get laid...it doesn't get better than this. another fun masterpiece from the roger corman stable..check it out. you will not be disappointed , i wasn't..i just wish Hollywood made movies like this more often...take a lesson from the master himself rog corman!

Has there ever been a woman as gorgeous as Maria Ford?

[shannon.dunmyer · 10/10 · 3 October 2000]

This movie flat sucked. But I sat through every nauseating scene just to see Maria Ford, as I'm sure was the point. This film was probably someone's psych 101 project. "Will Men Sit Through The Most Mind-Numbing Drivel, Just To See A Hot Naked Body?"

Yes Mr Freud, we will.

Love the B's.....

[fuzbuni · 11 September 2004]

Bought this movie on DVD from a bargain bin and found it was well worth it. As far as eye candy goes there is a lot to see and the gore is all part of the fun. Leaves enough to the imagination. Watch this whenever I have seen something really scary in the news just to make me remember that I can still laugh. Adrienne Barbeau makes the Queen a real delight but I wish she had done a little more. Would have really loved to see a little more of the dungeon just for curiosity....Somehow I doubt that this movie will ever see Canadian TV. Take care....

The best way to spend the worst evening

[aktowfik · 10 February 1999]

Just made for sadistic people who like to see naked flesh beaten, masochists who like to see naked flesh beating and straights who like to see just naked flesh!. Bram Stoker could have never imagined such a thing!