Rats! fits in perfectly with movies like Repo Man, Tapeheads or even Dude Where’s My Car? (judge all you want but that movie is funny). The basic plots are all similar on a surface level – an aimless stoner gets caught up in a plot involving guns, murder, nukes and/or bombs, aliens, the FBI or a close combination of everything in the case of Rats! After getting busted for tagging, a young punk/graffiti writer (“Raphael”) is used as a pawn by a crooked police officer to go undercover to try and bust his cousin who may be in possession of nukes. These nukes are just the tip of the iceberg as we’re exposed to one absurd semi-connected event after another.
On the most surface of levels, Rats! is the type of movie to be compared to the work of someone like Harmony Korine because of all the vulgarity, randomness, occult imagery and connections to death metal. But, the more you watch Rats! the more you’ll find it pulls from recognizable sources like Spielberg, DePalma, Tarantino and Lynch (at this point in time, what movie doesn’t).
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| Crrie / Jaws / Rats! |
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| Reservoir Dogs / Rats! |
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| Blue Velvet / Rats! |
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| Un Chien Andalou / Blue Velvet / Rats! |
I doubt Wild Style played a part in the development of this movie, but the graffiti element made me think Zoro and his tagging...
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| Wild Style / Rats! |
If you’re looking for a contemporary comparison, this falls in line with the films of Joel Potrykuys (we cover Potrykus’ work a lot on this blog). The opening scene of Rats! Is very similar in tone to the opening scene of Potrykus’ Ape (both directors are also very reference-heavy so the connection makes even more sense). I doubt Rats! director Carl Fry is familiar with Potrykus but it’s interesting to me how both of their movies start with an aimless small town youth tagging up their town as a way to show rebellion.
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| Ape / Rats! |
Rats! plays out like something made by the little brother of an old gen-xer. Someone who never actually saw a full episode of Pete & Pete or you can’t do that on television, but instead they heard about it from their older sibling and watched a couple of clips on youtube for context (based on everything I’ve said so far, it should come as no surprise that this movie relies heavily on nostalgia). Rats! is also the perfect movie to share with someone who loves to complain about things being too “woke”. The type of movie that disproves the whole; “you could NEVER make a movie like THIS today” or “everyone is SO easily offended”. At times you’ll find yourself questioning if this movie is completely satirical, completely offensive in a rebellious immature teenager kind of way, or a combination of the two. I’m still not completely sure but I do know that this movie is genuine and has heart. I’ll need to watch it a few more times but after my first viewing I can say I enjoyed it very much. I wouldn’t blindly recommend this to most people because there is a lot of gratuitous vulgarity and senseless violence. But if you don’t mind that kind of stuff and are looking for a surreal, fun and sometimes uncomfortable 79 minutes – this might something you’d enjoy.
