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Absolutely Fantastic

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This movie came on TV while I was doing something else...from basically everything about it I thought it was going to be crap, but was pleasantly surprised and ended up getting totally glued to it. It was suspenseful, creepy, had some great scenes and scares (unexpected gore as well), and for the most part well-written, shot, and acted. Much better than the average made-for-TV-movie...one big reason I liked it as well was that it doesn't take itself too seriously (thank god) but it's somewhat plausible minus the cinematic exaggeration, like if the plot was reported as fact in the news one day you'd believe it (especially if you've seen the rats in the NYC subway). Give it a chance if you love B-horror movies. it's far better than the title/premise suggest...lots of fun

When Ratatouille came out, parents flocked to pet stores to buy a rat at their kids' request. The problem was that nobody knew how to take care of them. Well at least society now has a more positive image of the rat, something that this little TV movie probably won't provoke.I had a couple of pet rats myself, so I know personally about some things which movies never get right about them (and this goes for both sewer and pet rats). Biggest goof of all, Rats do not squeal or shriek every second of every minute of every day. The sounds they make on a daily basis are inaudible to the human ear. They only squeak when in distress, and in this movie, it is us humans who are in distress. The Rats offers purely visceral pleasure. If you are in desperate need of some goosebumps, or want to have a contest with two or three friends to see who gets squeamish first, this is the movie for you. Personally I cannot say I didn't enjoy it, especially the climax. Directed by John Lafia, who made almost unwatchable sequel to the very watchable and memorable Child's Play, and starring Mädchen Amick, who was cute in Sleepwalkers (also not much of a movie). The Rats is yet another creature feature that owes more than a little to the mastermind of Alfred Hitchcock's the Birds. I also saw a little bit of Jaws at times, especially one sequence involving the invasion of a public pool, (Rats are good swimmers actually, it is not as dumb as it may sound.That say, the movie is not that smart and definitely not inventive, but it does what it is supposed to do, even if that comes at the cost of giving rats a bad name.

For a horror/thriller movie called "The Rats", this one is almost as good as any could be. The plot is predictable and the dialog cheesy, which makes this 2002 film feel like it was written in the 1940s. Mädchen Amick's acting style reminds me of Jennifer Lopez'. The opening sequence, which alternates between a woman trying on clothes in a department store and a rat crawling through the walls, is not how the entire movie plays. In fact, the opening scene was the hardest part of the movie for me to sit through. Beyond the first rat-human encounter, the film is Indiana Jones-style fun without Spielberg quality. The Rats is by no means a perfect or thoughtful film, but the film is remarkably fun.

Stylish Susan Costello (Madchen Amick) is PR at Garvers Department Store in New York City. An unsuspecting customer is bitten by a rat in one of the dressing rooms and develops a serious disease. More sighting of rats at a nearby swimming center, and at Susan's apartment, suggest a plague of the rodents is brewing, and they appear to be overly aggressive too. Jack Carver (Vincent Spano) a suave professional rat exterminator and Susan together try to stem the plague of killer rodents, which extends to the Underground Railway, and finally ends at the swimming pool in a very suspenseful sequence, while the Health Department hope the whole thing will go away, and try to sweep it under the carpet. This is much better than the average thriller TV film thanks to some good special effects, and the general fear most folks have of Rats, especially feral ones in mass. In fact giant spiders ("The Haunting of Toby Jug" "Funnelweb"), rats, and snakes ("Lair of the White Worm" "Anaconda") all figure largely in horror literature. James Herbert wrote about London being invaded by rats in one of his first novels, (The Rats), but in this case the city is New York, and the rats have been mutated into something seriously aggressive, especially in huge numbers. Some possibly true and disturbing facts about the rodents in the city come to light in the script, which is reasonably sane for this type of movie. There are some well designed moments of horror - the janitor ends up in a very nasty situation being eaten alive. The cast have most unpleasant encounters with the little critters, making D. W. Griffith's putting Lillian Gish in a scene with a couple of rats ( in the days of the silent films ) seem like a summer picnic. She (Gish) managed to gain some publicity from the fact she allowed rats to crawl about her at the time. I'm not sure of the almost unknown cast of this feature gained as much notoriety, although perhaps they should considering the number of rats involved. However we are more skeptical today as digital effects can create the most awful situations without the actors being much impaired. Altogether the film will probably increase your phobia for Rats if you have one, and maybe start one if you haven't. Caution - don't watch the movie if you're squeamish.