Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Fresh and Exciting

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

(28%) An honestly not all that bad TV killer rat horror flick that has nothing to really offer but a mildly entertaining, all be it forgettable sit. The cast of unknowns do a decent job and unlike something like Sharknado this doesn't feel the need to add lots of pointless cameos from stars at the lower end of their career. How scary you find this film depends upon your own opinion of how you happen to find rats, but there's not really anything here to get under one's skin as it's all a bit clean and safe. Overall this never drops down too low in the quality department to overly feel like a waste of time, but this still doesn't really need to be seen by anyone bar those slightly drunk during the wee hours of the night.

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.

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.

I'm normally very cautious about renting films whose quality is dubious, especially if they are direct to videos. But I've been doing research lately and, based on positive imdb reviews, decided to check out The Rats (not to be confused with Killer Rats). I must say that this is a movie done with great taste and quality. The story was well thought out and the dialogue wasn't at all cheesy. It also doesn't hurt to have a beautiful leading actress. Good job to FOX for making a great DVD! Recommended is you want a fun but not over the top creature fx.