Deadly Eyes (1983)

So much average

Powerful

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Interestingly enough, after this film came out in 82, it was immediately followed by Of Unknown Origin in 83 and then Rats in 84. What kind of originator of a minor genre craze could disappoint? Um, well, this one.Easily the weakest of the rat films I've seen. The storyline diverges all over the place, forgets plot lines, crisscrosses with other ones at random only to forget them again and altogether makes little sense. This isn't surprising considering the credited sources. It's based on a novel, which was turned into a screenplay draft and then that draft was re-drafted into another screenplay. And all of it got mashed together into this unholy mess.That wouldn't even be that big of a deal if the movie at least delivered some actual thrills and fun but it can't be bothered to do that. All the giant rats are actually small dogs in rat suits, and they're adorable to the extent you recognize them as such. The "terror" scenes are poorly plotted and lack imagination or tension. There's no B-movie bloodletting (Robert Clouse probably thought himself better than that, and he may well be, but saddled with this screenplay he should have known better).

Over the years, Deadly Eyes has gotten plenty of bad critiques. However, I love the movie, it's a suspenseful laugh-riot and great to watch at a party with friends!Kelly is a health inspector and orders a pile of animal feed to be destroyed after noting that it is a breeding ground for rats. Unknown to her, the steroids within the feed have created rats the size of Great Danes that will soon terrorize the city of Toronto when they run out of food. Meanwhile she meets Paul, a high school teacher who is divorced and has one son. Paul is being stalked by one of his students, Trudy, and he keeps trying to convince her that it's inappropriate for a teacher to date a student but she refuses to listen to reason. Soon the rats begin to invade, dragging away and eating a baby, eating the babysitter as well, biting a kid's hand, eating an old man and living among the sewers of Toronto. (the rats are actually wiener dogs in rat costumes to appear larger, accompanied by a bizarre soundboard that sounds like a trio of old men with indigestion). Paul and Kelly have to stop the rats before they take over Toronto, and the rest of Canada as well.Yes, this movie is cheap, yes, the acting is bad, yes, the soundtrack is lousy and yes the special effects are lame, but come on, this movie is hilarious! I put it on at a Halloween party with my friends, we all loved it! People all-too-quickly forget that horror isn't just about being scary and full of gore, horror can have a comedic side as well. And there was a moment of amazing soundtrack, the song 'Lolita' by Chuck McDermott was excellent and I'd love to find a copy of it somewhere! The acting was generally pretty bad, but Scatman Crothers, the guy from the Stanley Kubrick classic 'the Shining', pulled off an excellent performance.Deadly Eyes deserves a much better rating, it's a hilarious B-movie with an original plot, great to watch at least once in your life.

THE RATS (Robert Clouse) This little documented B-monster mash up turned out to be quite an amusing time-waster concerning the mainly human diet of a ravening plague of dachshund-sized rats in downtown Toronto. The real problem with the film is that it is meant to be based on James Herbert's scuzzball splatterfest, and outside of cribbing the title, Clouse ill-advisedly decided to eschew Herbert's wall-to-wall grume and stick to a more conventional modus operandi, which plays like a 1950's Bert I. Gordon quickie, but it's this very anachronistic take on the genre which I found so appealing; 'Deadly Eyes' would make a great double bill with the equally ludicrous, but entirely fantastic 'Food Of The Gods'. A particularly amusing moment (reminding one of 'The Blob') is the sequence in the packed cinema with a clutch of appreciative, vocal fans enjoying the classic sequence from 'Game of Death' where Bruce Lee makes light work of lanky titan, Kareem Abdul Jabbar; when suddenly the rampaging rats chew their way through the shrieking audience; bloody marvelous! Yes, the script is banal, with all the characterizations and performances, outside of the delightful Scatman Crothers cameo being completely perfunctory, but miraculously all this lumpen silliness manages to translate into acceptable late-night fare. (Admittedly it's one of those uninspired schlockers where one's lack of sobriety plays a role in the degree of entertainment said film affords).

OK, i remember seeing deadly eyes on cable back in or around 84...I haven't seen it since, oh wait , i rented it on video around 90 or so to see how it held up. Well, not bad, but by 1990 early 80's horror films started to show some age. I would like to see a DVD copy though. I remember big rats attacking everyone, they seem to feed off of eating grain to get to this size. It's one was kinda bloody. There's a scene were the rats eat a little baby, attack a subway and movie theater.. And this film is really well remembered for scatman crothers. I love this guy, hes great in everything hes in.. But i don't think he lasts too long here... Maybe we will see warner bros release this on DVD someday.. I cant even find it on you tube. Also its Canadian production so we have a few actresses from another canada film Happy Birthday to Me... Don't think this one did too well at the box office...