Mulberry Street

Cool Old Guys: 9/10

Rat-People: 8/10

Seriously…Rat-People: 10/10

Every year a film fest is released that highlights the so-called “best of the best” for scary independent movies.  “8 Films To Die For” has everything from aliens, ghosts and monsters to killers, creeps and costumed crazies.  In the suggested film for me, “Mulberry Street”, we deal with a problem that everyone has crossed at one time or another…rats.  Oh, but the twist!  No, it’s not that these rats aren’t kosher(but I don’t think they are, so sorry to my Jewish constituents), but something much more sinister is afoot….

Welcome to Manhattan, a place where everybody has an attitude, but they know each other, so hey, forgetaboutit(can’t type the accent).  It’s just another hot New York day when the news channels start going on about some isolated rat attacks in the city, where it seems some people have gotten sick.  Big whoop.  Enter story about a girl coming home from her stint in the army, and her father and his gay roommate throwing a “Welcome Home” party for her.  The girl, subway hopping to make it home, finds that subways have been closed due to a series of accidents.  What in the world is going on?

Rat-People.  I’m not going to draw it out….Rat-People.  The people are turning into Rat-People.  The longer they have been exposed to a bite from a rat, the more they look like a rat.  They grow long teeth in the front, begin to squeak, and develop a snout.  Eventually they crawl on all fours and get big ears that point and flop.  The slowly growing Rat-Person population begins to affect everyone’s lives, pushing into the apartment building of some everyday people like you and me(and some cool old guy that blows the crap out of them with his oxygen tank and a lighter!).’

See, a rat! She's half transformed!

The story focuses on the girl trying to get home, using her special training to grab a bike she finds on the ground.  She soon gets mugged by a Rat-Chick, and has to high-tail(haha) it out of there on foot, running until she spots a truck to steal.  With some wheels, she makes it home just in time to ruin the rescue attempt her dad was putting together, saving a woman from a couple of floors down.  Too bad, get inside!  The building is falling apart(its New York, so you can’t blame the rats…well, not the new rats…), and baddies are all over the place.  They make it back to their apartment and try to set up shop, but it’s no use.  The walls are coming down, and the only hope is to go….up?

Forgetting that they are trapping themselves, they make their way to the rooftops, punching and kicking as they go.  Dawn is almost upon them now, and the sound of helicopters is all around.  Gay-Roommate-Turned-Rat jumps out and attacks the dad, who realises he’s been bit as well, and throws himself and his roomie off the roof.  The girl is left with a young boy who also thought the roof would be a good place to die, and the worst of it seems over.  That is, until government agents in bio suits pump the girl full of drugs and steal the boy.  The End.

It was taken so seriously, but every time you see a rat-guy, it falls apart.  I mean, I don’t think it was a terrible movie, it had its cool points and gory parts(you’ve got to have those gory parts), but rat-people…..seriously.  Come on.  Rat-People.

Thanks to Carlo and Aaron for the duel request, I remember why I don’t watch Horrofest now.  Let me hear those suggestions!