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Released by: Shameless Films
Released on: 1/28/2008
Director: Giuliano Carnimeo
Cast: Nelson de la Rosa, David Warbeck, Janet Agren
Year: 1988
The Movie
A misguided British scientist working in the Dominican Republic hopes to win a Noble Prize for his work in genetics and, during his course of experimentation, creates what he hopes to be his masterpiece - a pint sized Ratman (Nelson de la Rosa), made as some sort of cross between a simian and a rodent, with sharp, pointy teeth and a taste for human flesh.
Unfortunately for the fine citizens of the island, Ratman escapes and starts randomly attacking and murdering people, most of whom are hot chicks and/or fashion models. Meanwhile, a woman named Terry (Janet Agren) arrives on the scene to look for her missing sister. She hooks up with an author named Fred (David Warbeck) by chance and the pair decides to work together on their investigation to find out where the missing sister is. While these two are running around trying to figure out what on Earth is going on, Marlis (Eva Grimaldi) is showering in the nude and hanging out with a jackass photographer who continuously claims his photographs will make her famous. What they don't realize is that the Ratman is in the area and he's hungry!
Directed by Giuliano Carnimeo, who did The Case Of The Bloody Iris and a wealth of spaghetti westerns, Ratman is pretty goofy stuff. The film takes a while to get going and makes very little sense and unfortunately suffers from 'lack of Ratman syndrome' meaning that while the titular monster is pretty cool, he's just not in the film long enough to save it. Nelson de la Rosa does make for a creepy little antagonist, running around in his bad make up with squeaky rodent noises dubbed over top, but he isn't given quite enough screen time here.
David Warbeck is fun in the lead and his all too convenient insistence on helping Janet Agren find her missing sister is amusing in a way when you consider how unlikely it is that something like this could ever happen. Then again, we're discussing a film about a ratman, maybe expecting characters to act logically is asking too much. Regardless, Warbeck and Agren are enjoyable enough in their respective roles. Neither performer really gives it their all but they make for a fun couple. Eva Grimaldi does little aside from get baked and provide the film with some welcome eye candy but those who enjoyed her work in D'Amato's Convent Of Sinners will be grateful for her appearance in this picture even if she's really only got a supporting role.
Ultimately, Ratman has enough quirk and enjoyable bad movie elements to make it worth a look for fans of low rent European horror. It isn't even close to a good film in the traditional sense - it's poorly paced, it's not all that well acted, and it's riddled with clichés - but it does feature an ultra tiny little guy in a rat costume eating fashion models and jumping out of hidey holes a lot. You can consider that some sort of recommendation if you like.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Shameless presents Ratman in a 1.85.1 anamorphic transfer with a disclaimer appearing before the movie starts apologizing for the video quality and mentioning that it was culled together from different sources. The end result is a perfectly watchable transfer that won't exactly blow you away. Aside from the fact that the transfer is interlaced, there's mild print damage throughout and more than a fair bit of grain. Detail is soft at times and colors are faded. That said, the picture is better than the grey market copies of the film that have been circulating over the years.
The English language Dolby Digital Mono soundtrack is slightly better than the video transfer. You won't have any trouble understanding the performers and the score sounds decent. There's some mild hiss in the background of a couple of scenes but by and large this is at least of acceptable quality. It's also nice to hear David Warbeck do his own dubbing on this track.
Aside from promo spots/trailers for other Shamless DVD titles available, there's a trailer included for the feature itself (though it's obviously been created by Shamless and isn't an original theatrical trailer). Menus and chapter selection are also included and, as a nice touch, the cover art for this release is reversible allowing you to choose from the Jaws inspired cover or one that uses poster artwork that rips off Psycho. Neat!
The Final Word:
Far from a high point of Italian horror, Ratman is an entertaining trash fest even if the premise isn't exploited as well as it could have been. Shameless' DVD presentation won't win any awards but at least it's uncut and in its original aspect ratio.