Rats Take Hollywood! - Page 7
© Jane Adamo
Perhaps the most-known vampire movie of all is 1931's (USA) "Dracula", directed by the legendary Tod Browning and starring the infamous master of camp horror, Bela Lugosi, in the title role. Oddly, the majority of the "rats" in this film are actually armadillos! That's right: apparently Browning thought the 'dillos would look like huge, fearsome rats...and they do. Witness the first scene in which we see the Count: he has risen from his coffin and stands with a hard, fixed gaze (as only Lugosi could do so perfectly) beside his coffin, surrounded by fat, skittering rats. Excellent! The rats keep Drac company in the cellar.
The following is transcribed from the classic scene in the Seward's parlour, in which Renfield (Dwight Frye) tells Harker (David Manners) and Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) about his encounter with Dracula. It is often referred to as Renfield's "Rat Soliloquy":
"...A red mist spread over the lawn, coming on like a flame of fire. And then he parted it, and I could see that there were thousands of rats with their eyes blazing red like his only smaller. And then he held up his hand and they all stopped. And I thought he seemed to be saying, "Rats...rats...rats! Thousands! Millions of them! All red blood! All these will I give you if you will obey me."
All three movies are masterpieces of rat horror, and are among my favorite films of all time. Five fangs up!
Movie Ratviewers: Anna Dorfman, SUBWAY RATS! CITY MICE! AND THE FERRETS! =====
HELLRAISER
Dir. Clive Barker. Excellent horror movie! Scene where half reformed corpse is slicing a dead rat to threaten Julia. (Argh!)
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1984
Several versions-1st starring Edmund O'Brien made 1956 where he is put in a room/cage? with rats to make him betray the goil!
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THE RATS ARE COMING! THE WEREWOLVES ARE HERE!
Awful film by William Mishkin (we all remember William, er who?) 1972. About werewolf family who raises man-eating rats.
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WOLF LAKE -- TV
Lou Diamond Phillips pretty darn good TV Series about werewolves that I don't think is going to be renewed (dRAT!) In one of the last shows he is holding a big squishy Agouti & stroking it, thinking it is Graham Greene's pet rat. "Nice rat you have" Lou smiles. "That's not my rat" Graham informs him. Smile slowly fades from Lou's face knowing he is holding a wild rat!
