Quella villa in fondo al parco (1988)

User Rating:

4.4/10   

Director:

Giuliano Carnimeo

Writers:

Elisa Briganti (writer)
Dardano Sacchetti (story)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

He's The Critter From The Shitter!

Plot:

A maniac butchers a fashion model on a Caribbean island and leaves the body to be eaten by rats. The...

Plot Keywords:

Rat | Shower Scene | Beautiful Woman | Female Frontal Nudity | Murder

Cast

David Warbeck	...	Fred Williams
Janet Agren	...	Terry
Eva Grimaldi	...	Marlis
Luisa Menon	...	Peggy
Werner Pochath	...	Mark
Nelson de la Rosa	...	Rat Man
Anna Silvia Grullon		(as Ana Silvia Gruyllon)
Pepito Guerra
Victor Pujols
Franklin Dominguez
Antonio Colonnello	...	Fred (voice: Italian version)
Laura Gianoli	...	Terry (voice: Italian version)
Cinzia De Carolis	...	Marlis (voice: Italian version)
Aurora Cancian	...	Peggy (voice: Italian version)
Stefano Carraro	...	Mark (voice: Italian version)

Also Known As:

Ratman (video box title)
Terror House (Italy) (DVD box title)
The Rat Man

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:18

Company:

Fulvia Film

Rat-crap.

Four years before Peter Jackson's Sumatran rat-monkey caused a whole heap of trouble for Lionel in Braindead, director Giuliano Carnimeo introduced fans of Italian horror to Ratman, an equally troublesome simian/rat hybrid played by the world's smallest actor, Nelson De La Rosa.

Suffering the indignity of having to strip to his waist and don plastic fangs for the part, little Nelson gives his all as the titular poison-clawed, killer critter created by an irresponsible scientist. Unfortunately, being only two foot four inches tall, Nelson's 'all' is nowhere near enough, and with weak support from genre regulars Janet Agren and David Warbeck, who practically sleepwalk though their roles, Ratman winds up being extremely disappointing.

Between dreadfully dull scenes of chinwagging between Agren and Warbeck, as they attempt to discover who or what is responsible for a spate of recent murders, viewers are treated to a touch of light gore, plus some nudity courtesy of Agren's busty fashion model sister (who displays very unusual techniques when it comes to both modelling and taking a shower). There's also a little fun to be had from seeing just where teensy Nelson will pop out next: during the film, he launches attacks from a wardrobe, a fridge, a box, a luggage bag, and a toilet.

All of this cheesy silliness, however, is not nearly enough to compensate for the movie's virtually plot less script, crap acting and torpid direction.