Director: Nathan Schiff
Year: 1979
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
After returning to Earth, the radioactive contents of a spaceship fall into a small community in Long Island and turns the rodents into a breed of man-sized, vicious killing machines and forces a pair of scientists looking for the fallen spaceship into trying to stop the rampaging beasts.
Review:
Considering it's resources, this one didn't turn out that bad. Among the many enjoyable elements to consider here is the numerous technical limitations that don't seem to affect the actual on-screen content. This one really scores nicely with the idea of the radioactive contents of a crashed space-ship being spread throughout a small community and turning the creatures into ravenous killing machines. It's a fantastically cheesy type of setup that might actually get played out. This one generates some solid action scenes here due to that, from the boys' initial encounter out in the swamp where it takes them out one-by-one to the hit-and-run accident that severed it's arm. The remnants of the severed arm itself leads to some rather fun searching of the house to find it as well as the antics afterward that are certainly far more exciting than expected throughout there.
The later half, where it introduces the deranged scientist and his plan for world domination using the contained radioactive chemicals in his work manages to bring about some exceptionally cheesy work. The whole aspect of his character appearing out of nowhere and derailing the general fun of the creature attacks with the scenes down in his basement lab holding them hostage and explaining his plan the way all good mad scientists do which in turn leads to the real fun here with the final mutations to arrive. Consisting of the mutated assistant that appears to sprout a rodent-like face and claws in human form while coming together with some solid action featuring all the sides brawling with each other in the ruins of the facility and really generating some solid fun to be had in the grand confrontation. From the emergence of the giant creature to the battle with the mutation and the series of footchases with the final mad doctor in the swamplands outside, it ends this one on a rather nice note. These here manage to hold it up as there wasn't a whole lot to dislike about it.
Frankly, those here really tend to revolve around the low-budget special effects and presentation here, which is the elephant in the room with this one. There's some laughable material here, from chunky meaty blood, doll parts for human remains and obvious food substituted for spilled innards which is all completely obvious about it's usage. The rat costume at the end oddly looks like it's falling apart from the beginning and the giant rat costume used for the creature's appearance is clunky, stiff and barely mobile enough to pose enough of a threat to the lone victim that's attacked. It's somewhat embarrassing, yet again the circumstances surrounding it do manage to give this somewhat of a pass moreso than most others. There's also the main flaw here of the needless inclusion of the mad doctor that does nothing for the film as a whole. It comes out of nowhere and seems to halt the momentum of the film to introduce this segment that doesn't really belong there. This was working fine as a creature feature rather than introduce this rather off-kilter segment, so placing it here is somewhat jarring. Otherwise, this one isn't that bad.
Overview: **/5
It really is impossible to really rate this one considering so much of the backstory involving it's conception are what lead to the films' flaws and that really shouldn't be that much of an issue. Give it a shot if you're an undiscerning genre fans or those looking for good-natured cheesy schlock, while those that can't should definitely look elsewhere here,
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