Rats: Harmless memes you send to your high school friends to prove how New York you are or evil harbingers of doom that precipitate the inevitable downfall of the human race and destruction of our planet? Spectacle will finally put the question to rest with two wildly different visions of a not too distant apocalypse ushered in by our rodent overlords. Winter may be here, but RAT SUMMER is just heating up!
RATS: NIGHT OF TERROR
Dir. Bruno Mattei, 1984
Italy/France. 96 mins.
In Italian with English subtitles.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5 – 10 PM
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8 – 7:30 PM
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13 – 7:30 PM
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18 – 10 PM
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20 – MIDNIGHT
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a group of bikers are trapped underground searching for any means of sustenance when they stumble upon a mysterious abandoned village. While finding food and shelter, the human wastoids also unearth more insidious company…hordes of mutated, bloodthirsty rats with a taste for human flesh intent on ripping them to shreds.
From Italian schlock master Bruno Mattei (ZOMBI 3, NIGHT KILLER), Rats Night of Terror brings a level of surprising deference to it’s unique Mad Max meets Phase IV by setup that many genre films from the era lack. Shot by Franco Delli Colli (camera assistant on THE LEOPARD!) and utilizing sets from Once Upon a Time in America, RNOT creates a dreamy, enveloping, and uniquely claustrophobic world that shares just as much DNA with Rod Serling as it does with Lucio Fulci, and features an ending that with leave you SCRATCHING your head in bewilderment.
RAT SCRATCH FEVER
Dir. Jeff Leroy, 2011
United States. 95 mins.
In English.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4 – 10 PM
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10 – 7:30 PM
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13 – 10 PM
MONDAY, DECEMBER 16 – 10 PM
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21 – MIDNIGHT
On a volcanic planet, the lone survivor of a space mission is infected by giant mutant space rats. Returning to earth, she begins to wreak havoc and spread her rodent strain. Only the mysterious Dr. Steele and man of action Jake Walsh can team up to stop her, but is it too late?
Prodigious auteur of numerous low-budget genre classics, Jeff Leroy (CREEPIES, GIANTESS ATTACK) forms a unique hellscape blending practical effects, puppetry, and budget-conscious CGI along with some truly epic performances (Randal Malone channeling his best Dr. Moreau-era Brando) and creates a film that reads like a Vaporwave Prometheus with a healthy dose of giant rodents thrown in for good measure. Fresh off a successful one night engagement at Nitehawk, Spectacle is proud to host this limited run of a new cult classic!