Food of the Gods II (1989)

the audience applauded

Lack of good storyline.

Admirable film.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!This giant-rat movie would be worthless, except for FOUR wonderful redeeming features/moments/scenes.1. Feature: The great character-actor Colin Fox is on top of his game, playing a character perfect for him, a sneaky university scientist posing as a cancer researcher but really trying to find a cure for baldness so he can get rich. Fox's campy villainy reminds me of Vincent Price (although Fox is nowhere near as imposing as VP was).2. Scene: The scene where the rats attack the girls synchro-swim team and the audience is a masterpiece. Just to see this scene is worth the price of admission. And the special-effects are cheesy and funny--they're filming ordinary rats in a miniature swimming pool, and also obviously superimposing the rats' images on the images of the fleeing people. You see a victim staring at an imaginary rat and screaming in terror, but the rat is in the wrong place, not in her field of vision.3. A funny line: a professor warns the president of the university that the campus may be infested with giant rats, and advises him to cancel the synchro-swim event. The professor answers something like (paraphrasing): "It's already difficult enough to get the alumni to send us money. If we cancel this event because we're worried about GIANT RATS, we can forget about ever getting more contributions." The disgust in his voice when he says "giant rats" is hilarious.4. There's a moment where a student and a co-ed are about to score in the back seat of a car. The guy says "hang on, I gotta pee", gets out of the car and walks over to a bush, unzipping his fly as he walks, humming cheerfully to himself, happy that he's about to get laid. Then you hear a loud squeak and he's running around screaming in pain clutching his crotch. Yikes!

Yep, it's the kiss of death when you either name your movie Gnaw, or at least begin with it.So…let me get this straight: there was such a high demand, that after 13 years they absolutely needed to make a sequel to The Food of the Gods? Not only that, but they had that much time to prepare and this is the slop they're serving? Heck, it's barely a sequel in name only; the only similarities from part one and Gnaw: Food of the Gods Part 2 is that they have a growth hormone (this time produced, and not "found from the 'Gods'") and rats appear in both movies. And they even toned down the size of the rats this time, à la Jaws's shark from parts 2 through 4.I don't want to waste too much time, but I saw this as a kid and I'm always, regrettably, drawn to When Animals Attack movies. I just finished part one for the first time in decade(s) so I figured I finished the series (thank God, there's only two.) The scene I remember most, make that – the only scene I remember from when I was a kid, was this guy leaving his mate outside, in the bushes, to take a p*ss during his sexual encounter…and if you're dealing with a movie about giant rats, you know where that's headed.Unfortunately, I didn't remember much more or I wouldn't have wasted any more time on this crud.The movie is 100% 80s Bmovie fare: University professor (Coufos – who could easily be a Marc Singer double) develops/works on special formula that causes growth in anything it's injected to. There are animal-abuse protesters outside that want to shut him down due to his animal researching and they break in and, well, ruin everything: they inadvertently release giant rats onto the campus. Strangely, this sounds like 28 Days Later that won't be released for more than a decade later.At any rate, he's trying to find a cure, warn everyone, help Bobby, a boy that's grown both in size and temper and find time for love with his "dreamy" big hands and big…well, let's say his mate can now give birth without any pain.Oh, and throw in the Jaws, Piranha and every other rip-off big "Grand Opening" finale that will make or break the place of concern. And will the rats be kind enough to stay away while a crowd watches synchronized swimming? Gnaw.I'll admit, despite the lack of both the multiple examples of grown species and the continuity between the first and second films, I liked the first time they shown a large human (Bobby) and it was a tad bit funny. Sometimes intentional (they really tried hard in some scenes to be tongue-in-cheek) and most times, unintentional like the aforementioned dream sequence with biiiig hands and whenever you see film crew members off to the left or the boom mike.Overall, skip. There are zero reasons to see this. EVEN if you liked the first.

"Food For The Gods II" offers cheap gory entertainment and may only be enjoyed by fans of the 80's craziness. Sure, the movie is cheesy as hell (come on, those giant rats!) but it will surely entertain you.The poorly done f/x and make-up add a sense of B-movie but I'm sure that the producers tried to make a serious Horror... I guess.You know the plot. I have warned you. This is an extremely cheesy Horror movie with lots of gore, and rat violence. You have to watch it with very low expectations in order to truly enjoy it.The scene where the mad scientist melts down may be one of the most incredibly cartoonish scenes in Horror. The way how his brain still pumps is laughable. Also, when the rats attack in the pool (a cool scene) you can say that in order to create the effect of a giant rat, the director focused on the rat's head with a zoom. Oh, and the rats' POV is stuff for legend.I don't know but I somehow enjoyed this one. The movie has action and gore all the time! You can't say that it's not entertaining. Plase, track this movie and watch it if you are in the mood for super 80's Horror and cheese. This may not be MSKT material but it's definitely a movie to laugh about. The best thing about it is the always beautiful Lisa Schrage.

This movie was actually good. A bit boring at times though. Great gorefest. The rats had great scary appearances. I wonder is this movie out on dvd yet because I have it on VHS. My rating of this movie is 3.5 stars out of 5 stars.