The Rats

Silly film about a plague of giant cat-size rats that can gnaw through a human hand more viciously than a Great Dane. Hunky schoolteacher (Groom) falls for the local public health inspector (Botsford), who is concerned about the frequent sightings of rats in and around the sewage system. With the opening of a new public subway system under way, she orders the sewers to be fumigated, but these tough critters are immune to such trivial things. From then on, it's rodent on the rampage. Clouse uses the Steadicam technique (as employed by Carpenter in Halloween), but unfortunately it doesn't work for rats, and only gives the impression that they are huge, slow-moving creatures. A short but wonderful performance from Scatman Crothers is the only thing that lifts the film out of the sewers for a few moments.