'Deadly Eyes' aka 'Rats'(1982) - Robert Clouse.

This somewhat under documented B-monster mash up turned out to be quite an amusing time-waster concerning the mainly human diet of a ravening plague of dachshund-sized rats running yellow-eyed riot in downtown Toronto. The only real problem with 'Deadly Eyes' is that it is meant to be based on James Herbert's sublime scuzzball splatterfest, and outside of cribbing the title, director Clouse ill-advisedly decided to eschew Herbert's wall-to-wall grume and stick to a more conventional B-Movie modus operandi, which plays like a 1950s Bert I. Gordon quickie, but, weirdly, it's 'Deadly Eyes' amusingly anachronistic take on horror which I ultimately found so enormously appealing!

'Deadly Eyes' would make a great double bill with the equally ludicrous, but entirely fantastic 'Food Of The Gods'. A particularly amusing moment (reminding one of 'The Blob') is the delightful sequence in the packed cinema with a boisterous clutch of appreciative, vocal fans enjoying the classic sequence from 'Game of Death' wherein master Bruce Lee makes light work of lanky titan, Kareem Abdul Jabbar; when suddenly the rampaging rats gorily chew their way through the shrieking audience; bloody marvellous! Yes, the script is banal, with all the characterizations and performances, outside the delightful Scatman Crothers cameo being little better than perfunctory, but miraculously, all this lumpen B-Movie silliness manages to translate into altogether tasty late-night Pizza n' beer fare. Admittedly, it is, perhaps, one of those more uninspired cheapjack schlockers where one's lack of sobriety might play a significant role in the degree of entertainment said film finally affords! 'When these rats attack, you better watch yer ass, Jack!'

 

 

'Not toothsome?? A threesome, dude??'