Editorials
Raving for Rodents: 8 of Horror’s Raddest Rats!
Since we’ve been huddling together in caves, rats have gotten a bad rap. Murophobia, the fear of mice and rats, is one of the most common phobias in the world. Their cultural significance as carriers of disease and creators of famine has made them monsters in horror fiction.
Real-life rats are actually pretty helpful to humans. They’re great for scientific experimentation because their social structures are so similar to ours. They’re excellent pets for children, as they’re clean and rarely bite. Some species are being used to sniff out landmines and detect Tuberculosis.
So what makes rats scary, exactly? They have sharp teeth, sharp nails, and can carry diseases. They live where we live, and it’s common for humans to exist around rats (and vice-versa) without the humans ever being the wiser. They’re everywhere, they outnumber us, and that’s what makes them such a terrifying threat in horror cinema.
To celebrate Shout Factory’s Blu-ray release of Willard, we’re taking a look at eight of horror’s most reviled rats.
8. The Rodentz of Altered Species/Rodentz (2001)
Altered Species is schlocky low-budget horror, but it does feature some fabulous furry villains. In the film, also called Rodentz in some regions, a science experiment to create a cancer cure instead turns its test subjects – three lab rats – into mutant monsters that can regenerate. The rats, including one who is now the size of a dumpster, go on a rampage. Each of the rats has a different reaction to their version of the “cure” and is its own unique monster. Altered Species is no Citizen Kane, but if you’re looking for killer rats and science gone wrong, this is the ticket.
7. The Rats of The Rats (2002)
Mädchen Amick (Twin Peaks) stars in this made-for-TV horror flick about rats who attack and take over a department store in Manhattan. Directed by John Lafia (the guy who wrote the original Child’s Play!), The Rats features massive hordes of rats wreaking havoc on anything and everything they touch. There are tons of typical trashy TV movie tropes to be had here, including a bit of nudity and some very silly gore.
6. The Horde of The Pit and the Pendulum (1913)
One of the most notorious horror stories about rats is Edgar Allan Poe’s The Pit and the Pendulum, in which a man tortured by the Inquisition is saved when rats chew through his bindings. Many of the film adaptations of the story omit this part, but the 1913 version directed and produced by French filmmaker Alice Guy-Blaché featured a whole horde of live rats for its finale. Unfortunately, the rats were killed after the film wrapped, but the treatment of animals in cinema has improved in the century since.
5. Nicodemus and Jenner – The Secret of NIMH (1982)
While The Secret of NIMH isn’t exactly a horror movie, it has given enough children nightmares to qualify. This Don Bluth classic animated feature, about a mouse who must face incredible challenges to save her family, has more than its share of scary moments. It also has lots of rats, including wise old wizard rat Nicodemus (Derek Jacobi) and the villainous Jenner (Paul Shenar). Despite Jenner being the movie’s “big bad”, it’s really humans who cause fear and suffering among their four-legged neighbors.
4. The Giant Rats – The Food of the Gods (1976)
If you’re looking for horror flick with rodents of unusual size, look no further than 1976’s The Food of the Gods. Based on an H.G. Wells story and directed by Bert I. Gordon, this film depicts a group of people on vacation who stumble across an island of giant animals. They are attacked by giant wasps, worms, and more before they meet the truly nasty natives – the giant rats. Utilizing rat costumes, animatronics, and some comical camera tricks, this violent, ridiculous film is one for the ages.
3. One Rascally Rodent – Of Unknown Origin (1983)
Of Unknown Origin pits Robocop against rat. Directed by George P. Cosmatos (father of Mandy’s Panos Cosmatos), this 1983 horror film stars Peter Weller as a man who becomes obsessed with killing a single rat living in his brownstone. When his wife and son leave for vacation, Weller’s character tries to work on a project for a promotion and renovate his home. A rat living in his basement decides to create a little mischief, and the homeowner nearly destroys everything trying to kill the rat. Imagine Mouse Hunt (1997) meets Arachnophobia (1990) and you’re on the right track.
2. Socrates – Willard (1971 and 2003)
In both versions of Willard, the titular character is a lonely and awkward man trying to improve his life. He befriends a little white rat that he names Socrates for its intelligence. Socrates is the closest thing to a hero in Willard, offering Willard comfort and friendship. He destroys a bit of property but never hurts a living creature. Socrates is a good rat, and it isn’t shocking that his death at the hands of Willard’s cruel boss is what sends Willard into a murderous spiral.
1. Ben – Willard and Ben (1972)
Ben is easily the scariest rat to have ever graced the silver screen. He’s a huge rat, portrayed by a Gambian Pouched Rat in the 2003 version of Willard. Ben is as smart as Socrates but a whole lot more ruthless. He initially seems to want Willard’s affection, or at least similar treatment to Socrates. When Willard rejects him, however, Ben helps orchestrate Socrates’ death and the torrent of violence that Willard’s rats inflict in his name. Not only does Ben get the better of Willard, he goes on to have a sequel devoted entirely to his horrifying friendship with a lonely little boy. As brilliant as he is brutal, Ben is a rat icon. Name another rat with a Michael Jackson song written about him. We’ll wait.
The problem with filming sequels back-to-back is that, unless you can afford expensive reshoots, there’s no easy way to adjust course in between movies if fans react badly to where the story is headed. That’s why it’s important to have a complete narrative thought out well in advance lest you accidentally kill a budding franchise.
However, this isn’t always the case. Every once in a while, it seems like the cinema gods smile upon certain chaotic productions and gift moviegoers with complete franchises that feel like more than the sum of their hastily produced parts. Ted Nicolaou’s Bloodlust: Subspecies III is precisely one of these miraculous pictures, with the raw talents of the artists involved (as well as the continued support from Romania) turning the feature into an effective conclusion for a series that kind of made things up as the filmmakers went along.
That’s why I’d like to invite my fellow readers to join me on this third part of our journey through the Subspecies franchise as we look into Bloodlust and talk about how it remains a surprisingly satisfying finale to the original trilogy.
A Trilogy Planned on the Fly
Released only a year after Bloodstone found plenty of success in rental stores and mail-in VHS catalogues worldwide, 1994’s Bloodlust was produced at the same time as its predecessor in (mostly) the same locations and with the same team. This means that the movie benefited from all the same upgrades as Bloodstone, with the crew now being more experienced with the ins and outs of surviving a low-budget Romanian production and the cast really settling into their characters.
At this point, everything from location scouting to the makeup process had been streamlined, with Wayne Toth and Norman Cabrera, the main duo behind special effects, even switching out time-consuming prosthetics for latex gloves in order to speed up Anders Hove’s monstrous transformation. The titular “subspecies” demons were also once again relegated to a mere cameo appearance due to the laborious puppetry required to bring them to life.
The only real hiccup came from the fact that actress Denice Duff had replaced the first film’s Michelle (Laura Mae Tate) and was immediately expected to portray the character as both an innocent victim in part II and as a secondary villain in part III. According to behind-the-scenes interviews, the hectic production schedule that blended two different movies meant that Duff would often find herself having to alternate between two incredibly different versions of Michelle during the same shooting day – though it’s obvious that she’s having more fun with Bloodlust’s more traditionally vampiric version of her character.
In the finished film, we pick things up immediately where the previous entry left off as Rebecca (Melanie Shatner) is forced to leave her vampire sister Michelle (Duff) behind in the dungeons of Castle Vladislav due to the rising sun. This allows Mummy (Pamela Gordon) to use Michelle’s blood to revive the vicious Radu (Hove) so that he may continue his quest for the coveted Bloodstone – a magical artifact that perpetually drips the Blood of Saints.
Meanwhile, the dreamy US embassy agent Mel (Kevin Blair) agrees to help Rebecca plan a rescue mission, though they’re unaware that Radu has become infatuated with Michelle during his attempts to guide her growing bloodlust. This all culminates in a climactic confrontation meant to tie up all of the series’ loose ends in one of Full Moon Pictures’ most ambitious productions.
The Evolution of Radu
Like its predecessor, Bloodlust: Subspecies III was also warmly received by fans who argued that the series was an even bigger success than Full Moon’s other major horror franchise, Puppet Master. This praise wasn’t unanimous, however, as 1994 had seen the rise of a more modern breed of sexy vampire popularized by Anne Rice, with old-school Nosferatu like Radu being viewed as obsolete when compared to the likes of Lestat and Gary Oldman’s take on Dracula.
In a way, one might argue that Nicolaou’s film is something of a swan song for the classic vampire story, as Bloodlust combines all of the traditional elements we tend to associate with these tales into a single tragic yarn that ties a neat little bow on Radu’s story as well as the old-fashioned monster movies that he represents. The finale remains shocking despite the fact that this is the third time we see Radu get brutally killed onscreen, with the brief tease that he may one day return feeling more like a nod towards the nature of evil rather than sequel bait.
The film dabbles a bit in gothic romance and even explores the inherent power fantasy behind transforming into an immortal creature of the night, but the filmmakers never lose sight of Radu as a demonic force even when he’s willing to betray his beloved Mummy for Michelle’s sake. In fact, his twisted “love” for his fledgling makes him even creepier as we get the feeling that his passion comes from a dark and disturbing place.
Anders Hove is at his absolute best in this film, with the effects department boosting his moments of what the younger generation would call “aura farming” whenever Radu emerges from shadows like a 90s version of Count Orlok. There are even a couple of surprisingly effective jump-scares here, which is why I’d argue that Bloodlust cements Radu as one of the most memorable cinematic vampires of all time despite his humble origins.
Subspecies Saves Its Best For Last
Nicolaou and Vlad Panescu also saved the best for “last” (more on that in a bit) regarding the film’s visuals, with the cinematography and overall atmosphere of Bloodlust absolutely surpassing what we saw in the previous films. Everything feels appropriately climactic this time around (including the wonderful soundtrack that was co-composed alongside an authentic Romanian orchestra), and I appreciate how this is the fastest-paced entry in the trilogy since the film doesn’t need to waste time setting anything up.
Bloodlust still suffers from some of the same low-budget blemishes as its predecessors, but there’s so much creative passion here that no amount of wonky effects work or stilted dialogue can get in the way of appreciating the flick’s gothic grandeur. That’s why it’s not surprising that the movie’s definitive(-ish) ending would later be retconned as fans begged for more Radu.
Of course, the next entry in this series would be a different kind of vampiric endeavor altogether, with the filmmakers attempting to engage with the same trends that ultimately killed Radu and his antiquated kin. That, however, is a story for another time. For now, I’ll merely insist that Bloodlust: Subspecies III remains a highlight of Full Moon’s expansive catalogue and is definitely worth seeking out today.
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