Review: "big bad rat" animal-horror

Some are disgusted by spiders, some by snakes and some just find rats disgusting! This is exactly the kind of people "Big Bad Rat" is made for…NOT! As you can easily tell from the name of the movie and the genre, this animal horror is not for people with certain phobias. Nothing bad can happen to everyone else for now, at least fear-wise. Whether the film is worthwhile, that you will find out of course here in the film review.

STORY:

Illegally dumped toxic waste has created the ultimate predator: a mutated giant rat. Just before the start of the hiking season, Ranger Brody prepares to open the new campsite. Everything is going well until the giant monster rat shows up and starts killing campers. Rangers become victims themselves, only local exterminator Lenny can take on the big-ass rat.

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Movie Data:

Animal-Horror
USA, 2020
With Caleb Thomas, Cece Kelly, David Sheriden, etc.
Released from 16 years*
Running time: Ca. 82 min. (DVD/Digital) / 86 min. (BR.)
Distribution: Tiberius (Sony)
OT: "Big Freaking Rat"

* Not even someone with a bad fear phobia needs to be afraid of the rat here, but more on that later. The film is quite gory in places, so the age limit at 16 is reasonable. Younger doesn’t have to be and older doesn’t need to be…

The Cast/Actresses:

Scott C. Roe
as
Brody

Cece Kelly
as
Naomi

Caleb Thomas
as
Dylan

Actors and their roles:
Scott C. Roe: Brody
Cece Kelly: Naomi
Caleb Thomas: Dylan
Nino Aldi: Steve
Michael Cervantes: Miles
Dan Yoon Hyuck Choi: Police Officer
Mark Hoadley: Archie
Theresa Ireland: Ashley
u.v.a.

Scott C. Roe Plays the lead role, or at least the character with the most screen presence. As the park chief, he oversees the new tourist park with overnight guests. Roe, a native of California, was first seen in 2006 in a small supporting role in the TV series "Passions". Small guest appearances became his way to more experience in the following years. In "Ballad of Broken Angels: Harmony" he had his first major film role in 2009 and in between he appeared every now and then in "Gereral Hospital" (4 episodes – 2007 to 2016). He was part of the cast of "Transformers 3" (2011) and the hit film "Bombshell – The End of Silence" (2019).

Cece Kelly Plays the daughter of Ranger Brody. She got her first taste of acting in 2015’s "Halt and Catch Fire" and was u.a. seen in "The Rack Pack" (2018) and "Nation’s Fire" (2019). The big breakthrough is still missing, but she is still young and some projects are already in post-production.

Caleb Thomas Is the best known actor on "Big Bad Rat" and has had a very busy schedule over the past 6- 7 years. After a small episodic role in the TV series "Glee" his path was apparently clear. His most successful films include u.a. "Disconnected" (2017), "Zoombies 2" (2019), "Candy Corn" (2019) and "Battlefield 2025" (2020). His talent could also be counted on in series and he played e.g.B. In "Pillo Talk" (22 episodes – 2015 to 2019), "Mani" (6 episodes – 2018) and "Chase Champion" (2015).

Granted… "Big Bad Rat" doesn’t sound like a mega blockbuster to my ears, but I don’t think you should expect that in advance either. After all, there have already been some surprises even in the low-budget sector, which later became true cult films. Yes, and there were also the other productions. That this was done on a shoestring budget can be seen in the first scene, which is supposed to take place outdoors, but was shot in a more or less nice indoor setting. Add to that a pretty subterranean acting performance and on top of it all the terrible German dubbing work. Great, the beginning would have been a mess… Fortunately it can only get better.

It actually becomes a bit of that, because unlike many other movies of this kind, there’s even a continuous plot here. Ranger Brody does everything he can to make his forest, his terrain attractive to tourists again. Only the oversized rat has probably something against it here. Let’s take a look at this scary creature. What were the filmmakers thinking when they? What’s creepy here is not the fact that it’s an oversized, dangerous animal, but the making of this nevertheless central figure to the action. Dear producers, even if there is no money, you don’t have to do it that badly. Sometimes, with such poor presentation, I ask myself if it wouldn’t have been better to take a smaller rat or just not make a movie in the first place if the conditions just don’t fit. Maybe it’s supposed to be trash, but even for that it’s not enough. Good trash is also a form of art, but it doesn’t even begin to shine here.

At some point, the rat and the park opening are no longer enough as the plot of the film and a few mafiosos with dubious machinations are inserted without further ado. The film gets now clearly more comedy, but the dialogues, which were probably completely spoiled by the synchronization, destroy everything. The following example of one of these dialogues I would also like to describe briefly:

Scene: There comes a man who apparently should kill the rat but the bad guys expected a killer.
Mafiosi 1 to Mafiosi 2: He is the exterminator!
Mafiosi 2 to Mafiosi 1: You mean he is the exterminator, he is not the cleaner?
Mafiosi 3 asks what is going on and
Mafiosi 1 replies: He is the exterminator and not the cleaner!

I’m afraid I can only recommend this film to you conditionally, or strictly speaking not at all. It’s too bad for a horror movie, not bad enough for trash, unsuitable for a feature film, and fortunately it never wanted to be a romance. So I have to say: This rat belongs back in the sewer and not on the screen.