Rats: Night of Terror

Did You Know?

• The film was released in Ontario, Canada with a Restricted rating after being rejected twice.
• Rats was released on DVD by Anchor Bay in their 2005 Fright Pack, and re-released by Blue Underground in 2007.
• Robert Firsching of AllMovie called the film 'workmanlike' and one of Mattei's more watchable works.

Plot

Set 225 years after a nuclear holocaust in 2015, survivors are split between those in comfortable underground cities and the New Primitives who live in sunlight. A group of eleven New Primitives discovers an abandoned village with mutilated corpses, but decides to settle there after finding food, a greenhouse with fruit trees, and drinking water. That night, genetically mutated rats attack them one by one. Lucifer and Lilith are expelled for making love too loudly; Lucifer later becomes intoxicated, is attacked, and falls into a sewer where he is devoured. Lilith is attacked while sleeping and eaten from the inside; a rat emerges from her mouth when her corpse is found. Noah appears after being attacked, and leader Kurt kills him with a flamethrower. The group barricades themselves until dawn, but Diana is bitten multiple times and falls ill. Chocolate insists Diana needs treatment for her wounds. The men go for medicine and water, but Duke refuses to help. Tarus is killed while trying to escape the basement, falling down stairs to be devoured. Duke challenges Kurt for leadership, fails, takes Myrna prisoner, and attempts escape; he drops a grenade, killing himself and Myrna. Diana commits suicide by slashing her wrists. The four remaining survivors find a recording warning that the rats will kill anyone who finds the town.

Production

The sets for Rats: Night of Terror were recycled from Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America. Geretta Geretta landed the part after her roommate, Dale Wyatt, was first offered it. This was her second movie made in Italy. Unable to speak Italian, she relied on a pocket dictionary to translate her script. When asked whether Claudio Fragasso directed any of the film, Geretta answered, "Hell no." She explained that Bruno Mattei was in charge, allowing others to contribute ideas, but the film was his. Fragasso offered many good suggestions, and Mattei would silently consider them before either saying "Va bene" or not.