The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

The Rats is based on a horror novel by James Herbert of the same title. It is a remake of a low-budget 1982 movie called Deadly Eyes as well, both filmed in Toronto but The Rats takes place in Manhattan whereas Deadly Eyes takes place in Toronto (the novel took place in London). This 2002 adaptation follows the story of the book slightly closer than Deadly Eyes did, and the effects were better in The Rats (in Deadly Eyes wiener dogs dressed in rat suits were used to depict giant killer rats).I know it isn't really fair to compare a remade movie to its original, but this version of The Rats is bad enough on its own. It's kind of entertaining, incredibly cheesy and for the most part sort of enjoyable, but it doesn't deliver on many levels. Its soundtrack is pretty bad as well, as was the acting.Deadly Eyes had great soundtrack, it had decent acting and it was a hilarious, cheesy thrill-ride, very different from The Rats. Honestly I don't really think that this movie even needed to be remade, but watching The Rats wasn't a total waste of time. If you're a fan of the novel and original movie you may want to avoid it, but if you're into more modern horror, chances are you'll really enjoy this one.

I seen this movie a number of time now, first time two times , when came on TV about 10 years ago, I really enjoyed it back thenIt's was not as good as remember it but I didn't found the movie well paced, it dose not take long at all before the Rats start to attack people.About the middle part of the movie is gets little calm but more rats start to attack again and I really liked scenes on Train, The rats covered the whole train , was really cool scenes.The attack scenes were not to bad or that great. they went not to bloody but first attack was good a bit bloody at the start. as movies goes on the attacks scenes seem less bloody but a lot rats on the person getting attacked.The acting was really good from the cast in this movie.Decent Killer rat movie6 out of 10

Rats invade every place in New York...you get a B-movie plot. The beautiful, elegant, sexy Madchen Ammick stars in this cheesy Horror flick for cable.I won't talk about the plot because there isn't much to tell about it. In fact, I will only comment about the scenes that are worth the watch. The rat attack in the swimming pool is a must see as it's a little but tense moment as the rats almost bite the young Daveigh Chase.Near the end, when the beautiful Madchen falls and is attacked by thousands of rats really made me worry because I could only think about her beautiful face getting disfigured. To my happiness, she only gets some scratches and is rescued by Spano and other guy. The rat massacre at the ending is also a must see for the cheese factor. What a cartoonish ending! This is a must see for people who have a phobia for rats like me. This is what Horror is about, scare and make you feel tense. This low budget movie makes it's job and entertains B-movie consumers for about 90 mins.Watch "The Rats" for it's intention to entertain and to watch the stunning, incredible Madchen Ammick.

It's amazing what you can achieve if you dispose over a bit of professionalism. Even the most routine straight-to-cable production can be worth watching if the acting and directing is a little decent. It was the Fox Network that hired John Lafia (Man's Best Friend) to do the directing and the still yummy Mädchen Amick for the female lead. Vincent Spano (Alive) and Daveigh Chase (The Ring) complete the above average cast. The premise of a giant rat-plague threatening a big city isn't exactly new, but still this film succeeds in bringing a bit of tension and entertainment. Mostly thanks to the excellent underground shooting locations (basements, sewers, subways…) 'the Rats' looks icky and a bit unsettling. The rats naturally are slightly mutated by lab-tests and therefore a lot more aggressive and more difficult to annihilate. The grotesque finale in which a swimming pool is used as a rat-fountain is very over-the-top, yet brightly and well elaborated. Mädchen Amick is a seriously underrated actress and I hope she'll receive some new, bigger acting offers real soon. Vincent Spano is pretty good as well and he clearly enjoys sharing rat-trivia with the viewer. I don't know if all what he said is true (for every inhabitant in NY there are 9 rats?? You can get Weil's disease from a rat-bite??) but it was interesting nevertheless. Recommended!