Rats - Night of Terror
Italy/France 1984. Director: Vincent Dawn (Bruno Mattei)
Cast: Richard Raymond, Janna Ryann, Alex McBride, Ann Gisel Glass
Aka: Riffs 3

As post-nukie films (read Mad Max clones) were big money in the early '80s it was only natural that Bruno Mattei also shot a messy contribution. His Rats is though really dull but is partly saved by a stylish photography by veteran Franco Delli Colli and some interesting set-pieces. The story is set in a devastated area in the year 225 a.b (after the bomb of course) but otherwise the concept is horror pure and simple. A group of outlaws are trapped in an underground warehouse with millions of dirty rats waiting on the outside (sort of Assault on Precint 13 with rats). The outlaws, bearing such names as "Chocolate" and "Video", are eaten alive one by one by the rats (actually handpainted mice) until the horrible truth is revealed in what may be the worst surprise ending ever in a rat-film. Really scary. The best and most memorable scene, however, has a naked girl trapped in a sleeping bag with a hungry rat. Otherwise, the acting is a disaster, the dubbing even worse. It's hard to believe that director Mattei himself has said that this is his finest hour and a half. Rats is probably not his finest movie, but it isn't his worst either. Just very average for the genre and not worth spending too much money on.