Movies
[Review] Informative and Disturbing, ‘Rats’ Is the Ideal Horror Documentary!
While some may scoff at the idea of horror documentaries, they’ve actually been around for quite some time now. Eerie films like Barbara Brancaccio and Joshua Zeman’s Cropsey and Frederick Wiseman’s infamous Titicut Follies have proven that reality can be just as, if not more, horrifying than fiction if viewed through the right lens. Inspired by Robert Sullivan’s eponymous book, Morgan Spurlock’s Rats documents a disturbing but oft-overlooked aspect of human life. In this case, our coexistence with another particularly successful form of mammalian life.
Rats spares no expense as it delves into the gruesome details of our muddled relationship with these creatures in a way that traditional horror movies have yet to accomplish. From the opening scenes featuring rodent dissections and the horrors that lurk within their sickly bodies, it’s quite clear that this is by no means a “popcorn movie”. However, disgusting as the subject matter may be, the film is still strangely compelling as it reveals the peculiar ways in which vermin affect our lives, and vice versa.
Through interviews with veteran exterminators and guided tours of New York City’s rat-infested hot spots, the film presents us with a possibility much more disturbing than any rodent-borne plague: that human beings are not as dominant in this world as we like to think we are. Of course, Spurlock does his best to present both sides of the issue, as the film does eventually take a break from the nausea-inducing effects of our furry neighbors on society and instead shows us the controversial ways that humanity treats our fellow mammals.
This results in a pleasantly engrossing experience, almost contradicting the aforementioned stomach-churning visuals. Nevertheless, there is a strange sense of ironic beauty in the way we see rats scurrying around polluted man-made streets as if they were their own, sharing not only our public spaces but our food and homes as well. You can’t help but admire the tenacity of these tiny creatures, despite the horrific implications of their presence. This parallel between humankind and rats is one of the film’s strongest points, as it makes us recoil in fear when confronted with the many diseases carried by these animals, but also shudder in disgust when human beings prepare them as arguably inhumane delicacies in developing countries.
Rats is certainly much more visceral than the director’s previous work (like Supersize Me and Mansome), but Spurlock maintains his tradition of not shying away from the truth, no matter how repulsive it may be. Some might argue that his use of nasty visuals is exploitive and gratuitous, but in this case, these scenes fit perfectly with the subject matter. If anything, the revolting elements of the film kept things from getting boring, even during a few lengthy bits of exposition. In any case, Rats is a simultaneously informative and terrifying look at a worldwide issue that does for rodents what It did to clowns. I’d just recommend not eating while you watch it.
Rats will premiere on the Discovery Channel on October, 22!
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
Adam Simon (The Haunting in Connecticut, “Salem”) and Tim Metcalfe (The Haunting in Connecticut, Kalifornia) penned the script. The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallace.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
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