Ratman(1988): Original Italian title"Quella villa in fondo al parco"
Originally released in the Italian language, its title translates as "That Villa at the Bottom of the Park". It is released in the US by Apprehensive Films with a run-time of 82 minutes, although most versions on the web run at just 78. The horror genre( along with generous dollops of sleaze and exploitation) had its heyday in Italy in the 70's and 80's, where along with the gialli, movies with micro-budgets were produced at a mass scale. Another common aspect of these horror films was their shoddy and incoherent plotting which clearly established their utter trashiness. But of the trash offerings, there a few obscure gems worth hunting out. Ratman is definitely one of the vastly entertaining trash picks to be enjoyed and cherished(i.e., for those with acquired taste).
As far as story goes, it concerns a model who goes missing while shooting outdoors in a forest in the vicinity of a village in which the murderous little"ratman" has got on the loose. This creature is a result of a scientific experiment gone wrong, literally speaking he is the offspring of a monkey impregnated by a rat ! Well, the creature gets loose and goes on a murderous rampage, particularly picking on blondes in the vicinity of the house where his scientist/creator lives(which is close to the village) and of course, his captors. The model and her photographer are in a group of four, out of which two are ravaged by the ratman. So seeking help, they land up in the house of the scientist. Two more murders follow- one of the photographer and another of the scientist's assistant. Then the scientist reveals his troubled conscience, what he wanted to create was a miracle capable of capturing the Nobel Prize(!) but instead the experiment led to a creature whose teeth contain venom powerful enough to kill man within a few seconds. Anyway, as the scientist and the model prepare to leave the house where the little villain is still lurking, he stays behind to pack some necessary papers. As he opens a cabinet, his tiny creation attacks and kills him. Then comes the model, and and she too is bitten to pieces as she opens a refrigerator to drink water( which happens after she spends an uneasy night in the villa).
By now, the model's sister and the journalist friend arrive at the house. Finding blood and dead bodies everywhere, they retire to the police headquarters where the cop informs them that they are doing everything possible to capture the maniac(they think it's a human being after all). As it turns out, the ratman is quite persistent because he has placed himself in the travel bag of the dead model, and hence comes a truly laughable ending- as the sister of the model and her friend board a flight back to New York, a flying plane is shown(where the frame freezes over) and in the background come screeches and screams. The meaning is obvious, the travel bag has not only been successfully been screened in the airport, the ratman has made his way out to the passengers and begun his butchering aboard.
Nelson de la rosa at just 2'4'' depicted the eponymous "ratman" which probably till date must have remained his most humiliating role. And last, its tagline-"He's the critter from the shitter" !
Originally released in the Italian language, its title translates as "That Villa at the Bottom of the Park". It is released in the US by Apprehensive Films with a run-time of 82 minutes, although most versions on the web run at just 78. The horror genre( along with generous dollops of sleaze and exploitation) had its heyday in Italy in the 70's and 80's, where along with the gialli, movies with micro-budgets were produced at a mass scale. Another common aspect of these horror films was their shoddy and incoherent plotting which clearly established their utter trashiness. But of the trash offerings, there a few obscure gems worth hunting out. Ratman is definitely one of the vastly entertaining trash picks to be enjoyed and cherished(i.e., for those with acquired taste).
As far as story goes, it concerns a model who goes missing while shooting outdoors in a forest in the vicinity of a village in which the murderous little"ratman" has got on the loose. This creature is a result of a scientific experiment gone wrong, literally speaking he is the offspring of a monkey impregnated by a rat ! Well, the creature gets loose and goes on a murderous rampage, particularly picking on blondes in the vicinity of the house where his scientist/creator lives(which is close to the village) and of course, his captors. The model and her photographer are in a group of four, out of which two are ravaged by the ratman. So seeking help, they land up in the house of the scientist. Two more murders follow- one of the photographer and another of the scientist's assistant. Then the scientist reveals his troubled conscience, what he wanted to create was a miracle capable of capturing the Nobel Prize(!) but instead the experiment led to a creature whose teeth contain venom powerful enough to kill man within a few seconds. Anyway, as the scientist and the model prepare to leave the house where the little villain is still lurking, he stays behind to pack some necessary papers. As he opens a cabinet, his tiny creation attacks and kills him. Then comes the model, and and she too is bitten to pieces as she opens a refrigerator to drink water( which happens after she spends an uneasy night in the villa).
By now, the model's sister and the journalist friend arrive at the house. Finding blood and dead bodies everywhere, they retire to the police headquarters where the cop informs them that they are doing everything possible to capture the maniac(they think it's a human being after all). As it turns out, the ratman is quite persistent because he has placed himself in the travel bag of the dead model, and hence comes a truly laughable ending- as the sister of the model and her friend board a flight back to New York, a flying plane is shown(where the frame freezes over) and in the background come screeches and screams. The meaning is obvious, the travel bag has not only been successfully been screened in the airport, the ratman has made his way out to the passengers and begun his butchering aboard.
Nelson de la rosa at just 2'4'' depicted the eponymous "ratman" which probably till date must have remained his most humiliating role. And last, its tagline-"He's the critter from the shitter" !
