This film has some great elements such as some awesome 80's synth music, ridiculous over the top 80's outfits and character names (Lucifer, Taurus, Video). It does also contain some cringeworthy elements such as animal abuse which is common in foreign movies from as recent as the 90's. One moment you have characters talking about the indecency of humanity, and saying how rats don't deserve the punishment they get, and the next has the actors kicking live rats like footballs and beaming them with beer mugs. The acting, lines, and delivery bridges well into the absurdly bad, with one "joke" sticking out to me in particular. The character Lucifer is stuck in his sleeping bag and having trouble with the zipper, Taurus unzips it, and makes a comment about calmness being the virtue of a leader... then suddenly everyone is bursting out laughing like its the funniest thing they ever heard. Even Taurus who delivered the line is doing full belly wide mouth open head back laughter. Maybe you have to be in a rat filled apocalypse to understand the joke...

I rated this 10 for one simple reason. I spent the last 20 minutes hoping against all odds that the underground dudes would turn out to be human rat hybrids.They f***king were. What can I say. I laughed, I rewound many times to hear hilarious speeches. I'm a vegan and against (obviously) any animal cruelty, of which there seems to be a sh*t ton of, but I still loved it.A perfect example of the genre and of the era it was made. Rat men = win.yay

A significant horror genre is Euro-horror. These movies from Spain, France, Italy, Germany and occasionally others are rarely scary, but nevertheless show some REALLY nasty things. Directors in this genre include Antonio Margheriti (to whom Quentin Tarantino briefly paid homage in "Inglourious Basterds"), Dario Argento, Jean Rollin, Jess Franco, and Bruno Mattei.The first Bruno Mattei movie that I've ever seen is "Rats: Notte di terrore" ("Rats: Night of Terror" in English). Set in the years after a nuclear holocaust, it depicts a motorcycle gang riding into an abandoned city, which turns out to be populated by hungry vermin. Woe betide you if you venture into THIS city! "Rats" is a truly cornball movie. But, it was probably intended as such. I have no doubt that its target audience was horny teenagers. The movie delivers exactly what it promises and makes no pretense about what it is. It's gross, but it's still pretty fun. Probably worth seeing just to understand what it is.

In a post-apocalyptic setting, a gang of nomads enter an abandoned building only to discover it inhabited by rodents with an insatiable appetite for human flesh. What starts out looking like another tired 'new gladiators' instalment soon emerges as a claustrophobic ten little Indian tale where the characters must battle both one another and the omnipresence of vengeful rats on the warpath. The fearless leader Kurt combats challenges from within, as the incessantly irritable Duke persistently tries to undermine his control over the group, all the while Kurt and his fellow actors are pelted with rats by off camera stage crew.Curiously reminiscent of a stage production, the characters will often gather together in shot and deliver their lines in succession before a distant noise startles them into collective panic. The dialogue is stilted but suits the wooden acting, a weakness that can't be attributed to the dubbing. Full frontal nudity earns the film its R rating, briefly assuming the mantle until the infamous sleeping bag scene (ouch). Amid the dissent and panic, one of the characters (earlier defined as the cerebral thinker and oracle of all knowledge) delivers an epitaph that could apply equally to both the deceased characters he laments, and the film itself when he utters the immortal line "they had such a terrible finish". At least it's finished for them; the audience will have to endure.Make-up effects are confronting at times, though they do often fall short of realism, opting instead for shock value as witnessed by the asinine decapitation scene which resembles an accident in a mannequin factory. And as usual, the poor old rats (no doubt selected for their rare thespian talents), end up being kicked, gassed, barbecued, shot and one even knocked out by a beer tankard. At least they have the last laugh.