Rats: Night Of The Terror — Rats: Night Of The Terror( UHD, Blu Ray, & CD)
Rats: Night Of The Terror is a campy, creepy, and action-edged slice of post-nuke sci-fi horror. The early 80s cheapie Euro cult film is a schlocky & enjoyable ride, with touches of gore, cheesy tough guy to OTT acting, and a moody-to-bounding electro score. Here from Severin is a three-disc release of the film, taking in a UHD, Blu-ray, and CD. The set takes in a 4k scan of the film, three hours of new/ archive extras, and the film's score on the CD.
Rats: Night Of The Rats (Rats - Notte Di Terrore, Blood Kill) is from the year 1984- it is an Italian/ French production. It was jointly directed by low-budget euro cult directors Bruno Mattei and Claudio Fragasso- both are Rome-born, and both have been involved in a fair few schlocky to campy classics. Like Dawn Of The Dead rip-off Hell Of The Living Dead (1980), cheesy & OTT Namsploitation Strike Commanda ( 1986), Aliens and Terminator rip-off crossbred Shock Dark (1989), and cheesy 'n' cheap sharksploitation Cruel Jaws (1995).
After we get a lengthy/ slightly awkward Mr voiceover session detailing the nuke war, and what this caused across the world. We then meet our band of post-nuke survivors led by the stubbily, scarf-wearing, biker-jacketed and flame thrower-carrying Kurt (Ottaviano Dell'Acqua). With the group taking in the outspoken and braided hair, Chocolate- played by African American actress Geretta Geretta- Murder Rock, Demons. Frizzy/curly-haired/cut-off denim jacket wearing Video ( Gianni Franco), and always trying to take charge of the group, Duke( Henry Luciani).
After traveling across the wasteland for a bit, the group come across a selection of buildings- they break in, finding in the basement purified water, plants from across the world, a control room, and most importantly, crates full of food. The group can’t believe their luck, but this doesn’t last long- when they start finding masses and masses of Rats.
As the film goes on, the group start getting taken out one by one by the Rats- these move from being engulfed by masses of the creatures, eaten into( off screen) with rats coming out of mouths, Backs breaking open to a mass of furry bodies spilling out, bloody body munching’s, and decapitations. The gore is not up to the level/ creativity of some of the 80s Italian horror films, but it’s not bad.
The cast does well enough, moving between campily tough/unintentionally amusing to hamming it up/ overacting. The sets used, which were apparently rundown/ dilapidated from Once Upon A Time In America, are good, taking in a shadowy bar, a broken window/ rundown nighttime courtyard, and the eerily lit lab.
The whole thing has a good pace, and you are held throughout. This is helped by the effective electronic score by Luigi Ceccarelli ( Women’s Prison Massacre, Vampire in Venice, Massacre)- the cues move between the eerier gothic organ-like, to the more pacy/ pulsing synth-led, to noised up/ manic beat-bound. If you enjoy campy, gory, and action-bound euro horror Rats: Nights Of Terror is a must.
Moving onto this new release, the UHD and Blu-ray (region A) feature a 4 K scan of the film taken from the original 35mm print. This largely looks good/ well balanced, though still some of the darker/ more murky shots do lack a little clarity.
On the extras side of things, we get three hours' worth of extras, and I’m not completely sure what is new or archive. So, I just go through and list what we have: Mad Rats: The Making Of A Cult (55. 34), this is an in-depth documentary featuring a fair few of those involved in the film. It goes from the origin of the project, onto its filming, and completion, with a mix of interesting and at points quite amusing stories. It features Co-Writer/Uncredited Co-Director Claudio Fragasso; Actors Ottaviano Dell'Acqua, Massimo Vanni, Ann-Gisel Glass And Jean-Christophe Brétignière; Composer Luigi Ceccarelli; And Still Photographer Gianni Leacche. Of Rats And Men (7.04) Interview With Director Bruno Mattei. Richard And The Rats (12.48) interview with actor Ottaviano Dell’Acqua. Chocolate And Rats (12.27) interview with actress Geretta Geretta. Last Rat Standing (12.21). interview with actor Gianni Franco. Rats Dance (9.56) interview with composer Luigi Ceccarelli. Bruno And Claudio, I Knew Them Well (13.15) Interview With Executive Producer Roberto Di Girolamo. Bonded By Blood – Retrospective Making-Of For HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD And RATS: NIGHT OF TERROR (50. 21) featuring Co-Writer/Uncredited Co-Director Claudio Fragasso and Actors Ottaviano Dell'Acqua, Franco Garofalo, Margie Newton and Massimo Vanni. "Under The Black Sky" By Pornographie Exclusive (3.46) Severin Produced Music Video With Geretta Geretta. This features Ms Geretta with bubbling/ spurting blood eyes and mouth, Severin’s David Gregory getting melted, and weird superimposed on a street walking. Lastly, we have an original trailer.
This Ltd edition three-disc set (which I believe is only available direct from Severin) is the version you need to get- looking from the outside in-, we get a distinctive/eye-catching slip with orange, yellow and red colourings- with glossy/ raised blue texts. On its cover, we have a group of figures in white hazmat suits and gasmasks- the centre figure's mask is removed, revealing a rat-faced man/ rodent half breed.
Inside, we get the three discs and a glossy/ colour inlay card- this is double-sided- on one side we get the German poster art for the film, and on the other the soundtrack listing.
The CD (exclusive to this version) includes the thirty-seven-minute soundtrack by Luigi Ceccarelli, which, as I mentioned earlier, is great. The nine-track score is fairly varied- we go from bass pulsing moodiness of “Seq 1”, onto the bounding, almost instrumental prog rock of “Seq 2”. There’s eerier piping gothic organ vibes of “ Seq 3”, the brooding synth stabs meet higher-pitched simmering ‘n’ moody wail of “Seq 4”. We have the urgent pulse keys meet subtle squelchy electro texturing of “Seq 7”, or the angular to stabbing synth arpeggios of “Seq 9”. All making for not only a decent score, but a great stand-alone listen in its own right.
I must say I’m a sucker for stuck in one location horror/ action films, and I must say Rats: Night Of Terror is a good/ entertaining example of the form. This new Severin three-disc set serves up a new 4k scan, three hours of extras, and, of course, the excellent score- what more could you ask for?