Really Surprised!

Must See Movie...

An Exercise In Nonsense

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

I'm as creeped out as the next person by rats, but they aren't what I'd call horror-movie material. If anything, this movie made them a lot cuddlier and likeable than I'd regard them in real life. Bruce Davison plays his character like some kind of idiot savante. His over-acted nervous ticks got on my nerves. Oddly enough, for a guy who sometimes hammed it up, Ernest Borgnine wastes a good performance. He's pretty much the only believable character in this whole mess. Sondra Locke looks good and manages to get through a movie without coming across as a screeching harpy, which is an achievement for her. If this was the undercard at the Friday drive-in let's hope it was paired with a good feature or the place would have emptied out early.

Willard Stiles (Bruce Davison) is a social misfit with a lousy job ran by a boss named Al Martin (Ernest Borgnine) and a dominating mother named Henrietta (Elsa Lancaster). He makes friends down in the basement with rats even a big one which he names as Ben, he not only can communicate with the rats but they can follow his command even to kill people.Co-starring Sandra Locke, this 1971 horror thriller is one of the better killer animal movies. This movie kicked off Bruce's career and this movie was shot on a small budget by Cinerama releasing and became a surprise box-office hit in the summer of 1971. After this movie's success Borgine was offered higher salary since then, the film spawned a sequel and a remake in 2003. Based on an obscure novel called "The Ratman's notebooks", this is a chilling and very enjoyable killer rat take on Psycho and quite similar in aspects to Hitchcock's masterpiece. This movie with Jaws's success lead to killer animal films that dominated the 70s and early 80s and made people fear rats. I like Davison's performance as the social misfit turned villain and Willard is a sympathetic character you feel bad for and feel like booing at his boss Al Martin whom was superbly performed by Ernest Borgnine and the mother was nicely performed by the Bride of Frankenstein herself.

Hard to say which is better--the original or the remake. Both films have their merits, although Crispin Glover may have brought more humor to the role of Willard than Bruce Davison. The look of the original actually belies the 1971 release date, looking more like it was made circa 1969, judging by the fashions/hairstyles. This is understandable, since it can sometimes take a few years for a film to be released after its completion. But the film itself? It really is hard to say which is better; the original or the remake. The original has the retro appeal, but the remake is much more visually interesting than the original. Best to watch both and then decide.

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERSAh rats! No wait. That is the whole plot in 2 words.From "Marty" to Martin. My how Ernest Borgnine, fell from grace.How many of you knew, that Willard is the first name of Republican Presidential nominee, Willard Mitt Romney? Okay whoever named this kid is thankfully out of the gene pool. Who the hell names their kid after a baseball glove? What's next? A boy named shuffleboard?Okay anyway - the famous tag-line: "Where dreams end...Willard begins." That may apply to our poor baseball glove. No I could not begin to tell you how devastatingly challenged the contact lens acting, plot, dialogue, and scenery are. Nor could I tell you how dreadful the music is. While this is NOT as bad as Manos: The Hands of Fate, I am not too sure I'd ever watch this quality challenged cinematic blunder again. It is NOT even good fodder for Mystery Science Theatre.I think Alan Alda's quote: "There certainly is NO lack of slowness" sums it perfectly.