You may question the mental state of co-directors/screenwriters Carl Fry and Maxwell Nalevansky asRats!unfolds before your very eyes. Between crazed cops, shock humor, generous amounts of body fluids and, well, grotesque rats, thisnew indie filmmay end up to be the most absurd comedy of the year. To their credit (and favor), the filmmakers are in on the joke. This whacky comedy knows just how bonkers it is. (At least we hope it does.)
Originally from Austin, Texas, Carl Fry and Maxwell Nalevansky have been best friends and longtime collaborators who hit it off creatively on the set of that great cult classic filmLingua Franca. They’ve been collaborating ever since, and while their brand of humor may not jibe with general audiences — it’s an acquired taste — it’s only a matter of time before the duo winds up in an arena where their work can be seen regularly. Say, an edgy 30-minute comedy or animated series.Rats!: The Animated Series?That could track.
Featuring newcomer Luke Wilcox,Rats!is set in 2007, before social media completely hijacked our attention. Here, in the small Texas town of Pfresno (yes, that P in front of all words that start with the letter F is the film’s biggest running gag), Raphael (Wilcox) is arrested after defacing a town “monument” — in this case, the last outdoor phone booth of sorts — with graffiti. When his spastic single mother (Elisabeth Joy) sends him to live with his nearby cousin Mateo (Darius Autry), this relatively “good boy” suddenly finds himself far too close to nuclear threats, a sting operation, and a plutonium deal gone wrong. All that, and rats.
From Gross to Grosser in a Flash
RATS! follows 19-year-old Raphael Tinski in 2007 during the height of emo culture. Arrested by a psychotic cop, Raphael navigates community service, falls for a girl, and faces nuclear threats, encapsulating a turbulent summer in his life.
Supercharging the frenzy in this film, which acts as if it has binged far too many Red Bulls, is Danielle Evon Ploeger as Officer Williams. Early on, this beleaguered cop tackles Raphael and puts him in county jail. She’s hot on his tail when he’s sent to community service, becoming all the more suspicious when he moves in with Mateo, whom she suspects is part of some outlandish plot selling nuclear warheads to the Taliban.
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Fortunately, Raphael finds a friend in fellow community service worker Bernadette (Khali Sykes), and the duo become the only sane souls grounding this absurd comedy. The problem is that comedy grinds to a halt whenever it attempts to explore the connection between these two characters. That’s because everything else around them is so over-the-top, even the town’s elderly ladies, a duo who appear to be one moment away from foaming at the mouth. Then there’s Nestor, Mateo’s socially awkward roommate, and the rapper Pflophouse.
Did we mention the alpha newswoman who barks orders and flashes her breasts at her submissive husband? All in an effort to force him from not puking while holding the camera aimed at grotesque scenes unfolding in the background? Yeah, that happens. Meanwhile, a plutonium deal gone wrong filters into the mix. But what about the rats, you ask?
Where the Hell Are the Rats?
Curiously, there really aren’t that many rats inRats!If you’re hoping to see a colony of malicious rats in the vein ofThe SwarmorKingdom of the Spiders,alter your expectations now. Still, the few times these creatures do appear, the filmmakers successfully nail the freakish gore. You’ll cringe. You’ll just wish the movie had more of those comedy horror moments.
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At its core,Rats!is a trippy, punk-infused oddity, a kind of acid trip film driven by a grindy soundtrack featuring the music of Blood Brothers, From First To Last, I Set My Friends On Fire, Kas5sh & Yung Skrrt, and Thursday. The film rarely lets up. Between jokes being machine-gunned at you and gross-out humor, you’ll wonder how it managed to still keep you invested until the very last frame. Credit to the grounded performance from Wilcox and the solid direction. It’s also refreshing to see a nutty female badass here in the form of Officer Williams. Danielle Evon Ploeger clearly had a ball letting loose in this role, even though the character’s outlandish behavior wears thin far too quickly.
Rat-Whacked & Over the Top
We’ve got some undercover FBI agents tossed into the mix and a crazed fella chopping off hands whenever he can. And well, why not? So, if you’re a fan of broad, over-the-top humor loaded with gore and just a sprinkle of horror,Rats!is the movie to see. No doubt the filmmakers of this uncompromising debut hope that by nabbing an audience award at the Fantasia Film Festival, the film may find greater success. In the meantime, this creative rat of a film does just fine running around its demented little maze.Rats!hits theaters February 28 and VOD March 11.
