Product Details

• Actors: Mädchen Amick, Vincent Spano, Shawn Michael Howard, Daveigh Chase, David Fonteno
• Directors: John Lafia
• Writers: Frank Deasy
• Producers: Bob Roe, David Madden, Eric Hetzel, Robert W. Cort
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: January 14, 2003
• Run Time: 94 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00007AJKG
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #516,059 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

"Anywhere you go in this city, you're only about five feet from a rat." These reassuring words set the tone for The Rats, a cheesy 2002 TV movie with a rather fun attitude toward its icky subject. The furry creatures are overrunning a Manhattan department store, with only store manager Mädchen Amick and exterminator Vincent Spano standing between the city and the establishment of a full-scale rodent kingdom. What takes this movie way beyond Willard is the CGI paint box, which brings scenes--many, many scenes--of swarming rats: rats filling a children's swimming pool, rats dropping onto a subway car, rats teeming over unfortunate extras. The movie isn't top-drawer in budget or anything else, but it seems aware of the 1950s monster-movie spirit, and the rat-cam and nibbling sound effects are unleashed with glee. It might make you think twice about lifting that toilet lid. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the best rat films, July 7, 2003

By 

Joshua Koppel (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rats (DVD)

A customer at a posh department store is bitten by a rat in a dressing room. As a result, the store fires its current exterminators and hires the best in the city.

But the rat is only the start. The store has a big rat problem and it seems to originate outside the store. This is further proved when one of the store managers spots a rat in her home and her daughter is attacked at a recreation center.

Slowly we follow the trail of the rats and unravel the mystery behind their origins and attacks.

Decent acting and wonderful atmospheric settings help move the story along and keep the viewer neck prickling. Actual rat attacks are slight in number as the story and settings are used to create the rising fear of the rats.

I really enjoyed this one except when "the best in the business" baited his trap before setting it for the climactic battle. His competence level had been so high throughout the movie that I found it hard to believe he would intentionally do things backwards. but other than that, this was a surprisingly well-done film.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rat Patrol..., August 23, 2008

By 

Bindy Sue Frønkünschtein "bigfootsalienbaby" (under the rubble) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Rats (DVD)

I've loved killer rat movies ever since I sat mesmerized by the original WILLARD (and it's lesser sequel BEN) back in the early 70s. Something about these furry, much-maligned rodents has always brought a smile to my face and a pleasant chill down my spine. THE RATS is an absurd, yet completely enjoyable return to the good old days of rampaging rodents terrorizing mankind. Garson's department store in mid-town Manhattan is the proverbial "ground zero" for an all-out invasion by millions of genetically-enhanced, über-rats w/ murder on their teeny minds! Madchen Amick (Sleepwalkers, "Twin Peaks") is store manager Susan Costello. It's her job to deal w/ the rat problem, while simultaneously protecting Garson's' exclusive image. Enter Vincent Spano as Jack Carver, discrete exterminator extraordinaire. Carver soon discovers that things are far worse than just a small infestation. Receiving no help from the health dept., it's up to Carver and Costello (weren't they a comedy team?) to eradicate the menace. THE RATS is a lot of fun and moves along at a relatively brisk pace. The rat fx are well done, both cgi and real rats are creepy as well as crawly. Well worth a late-night viewing...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rats Runninhg Amok!!! (And Ms. Amick Is Pretty Hot Too!!!), May 17, 2005

By 

John Baranyai "Book Nerd And Ex High School G... - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rats [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This movie concerns an infestation by rats in a Manhattan Department Store which comes to the attention of store executive Madchen Amick. Then upon returning home with her daughetr she discovers a rat lurking outside their window. In desperation she calls the Rat Exterminator with the hope of finding somewhere else to stay but he informs her that 'whereever you go in New York you are only 9 feet away from a rat". This is hardly the reassuring advice you would want to hear but sadly proves to be true. Lots of scary scenes in this movie and I have been in love with Madchen Amick ever since I saw her in "Sleepwalkers". This movie rocks!!!