The film starts with two statements: They [the rats] wiped out half the population of Europe during the Middle Ages and They were the first living things to reinhabit Hiroshima after the Bomb. Black death was caused by a bacterium that was spread by fleas (sure, some were on rats but also cats, dogs and filthy middle ages humans). Mushrooms were the first living thing to reinhabit Hiroshima, but radiation didn’t last long, anyways. The city was rebuilt and reinhabited by humans less than two years after being hit with Little Boy.
Am I a fool for expecting scientific accuracy in a made-for-TV film about killer rats? No. You are never a fool for wanting the truth. I’m pretty sure Mr. T said something like that.
Anyways, the film is great. Mädchen Amick from Twin Peaks stars as a fancy department store’s… something. I didn’t write it down. She helps a princess shop there and takes cares of shoppers bitten by rats. For some reason her genes attract these mischievous, muffin-devouring rats. The rats take over the department store she works at, kill her wannabe Willard building manager, and infest the swimming pool her daughter practices in.
Are rats scary? I don’t know. I’ve never seen one in real life, but I feel like they are just like any other rodent. Which is scary. I don’t think there are many human fatalities from group-rat-attacks but there are diseases. The rats in the film have them. If they don’t get you from… blood loss I guess from a lot of tiny bites and scratches, they will give you leptospirosis. It’s a deadly zoonic infection but not really a problem in New York where you can easily get a dose of amoxicillin.
There are millions of these rats though and millions of anything is scary and if I am crazy for liking a film where rats attack children in a swimming pool, well, then call me crazy.
Sidenote: The film has one of the bleakest IMDb trivia page I’ve seen. It has two items:
Was originally going to air on September 11, 2001, but release was pushed back after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
On April 29th, 2020, the director John Lafia passed away from suicide.
Lafia was great. He directed Child’s Play 2 and Man’s Best Friend and co-wrote Child’s Play. The dude came up with the name Chucky! RIP.
