Reviews: The Rats (2002) Movie Review
- Related: [ Movie Details for The Rats ]
Subgenres: Creatures, Critters, Wildlife
Our honest review of The Rats (2002) breaks down its scares, pacing, and whether this horror movie truly stands the test of time.
The Rats (2002) is a rated R 1h 34 min American science-fiction thriller horror film that was shot in Lower Bay Station, Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Director John Lafia (Child’s Play 2 (1990), Man’s Best Friend (1993)) did not excel upon executing this monstrous movie about rats overtaking New York City. The film contains nudity, killer rats, little to no suspense, invasion, minor thrills, action, a swarm of rats, a robot camera, explosions, infectious disease and disease carrier rats.
The Rats is about several rats in New York City transforming into man-eating killer rats as a result of a DNA research trial. A customer cut her ginger in a dressing room at Garson’s department store while reaching down to get her clothes. Chief Supervisor Susan Costello (Madchen Amick - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), Twin Peaks (1990-1991), Sleepwalkers (1992), Priest (2011)) thinks it was nothing to worry about after finding a loose carpet tack. Susan received an inevitable call that no one wants and that call was to inform her that the customer was bitten by a rat and she is in terrible condition. They hired exterminator Jack Carver (Vincent Spano - Alive (1993), Rumble Fish (1983), City of Hope (1991), Good morning Babilonia (1987)) to get rid of the problem but he discovers that they have a huge problem on their hands. It did not take long for swimmers in a pool to be attacked by rats that came out of nowhere.
The Rats was made simple, and that was not an ideal thing as the movie flopped although it was a TV movie. I like the idea of rats playing on someone’s fear, but it came down to the film not being executed in the right manner to send frights across to its audience amongst other things. I gave this movie a four because there were minor effective scares for those who are terrified of rats. Madchen Amick and Vincent Spano gave us decent performances, but they were not close to top notch performances. I remember this guy who has large rats as pets and let them roam around his apartment freely so pets can be a man’s best friend or their deadliest enemy.
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Sources Used to Shape This Review
Insights in this review are drawn from director interviews, fan commentary, production notes, and long-form breakdowns across genre-specific platforms. Content is written uniquely and reviewed for accuracy.
- The Rats Rating Scores
- Our Score: 4/10
- Overall Score: 4.59/10
- IMDB: 4.9/10
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