Die Stunde der Ratte

First, the bad news: No Marjoe Gortner. Now, the good news: Rats! Rats! Rats!

Yes, FOOD OF THE GODS II is a classic of jumbo-sized Rodentia, accentuated by ethereally mindless synthesizer music, and daring to show a man in a cow mask.

Then, the 12' tall, foul-mouthed, 5 year old child emerges, making our lives complete.

Uh oh!

Those animal rights activists are at it again, destroying laboratories and causing mayhem. All, while scientists use their genius to grow enormous tomatoes. Little do they know, that rats love tomatoes. Soon, dog-sized vermin are feasting on activists like the crunchy snacks they are!

Exterminators with flamethrowers move in.

This so-called "sequel" makes the original movie look like a timid nature video. This time, utterly senseless overkill is the order of the day. Choosing to waste no effort on a plot of any kind, we have rats chewing arms off with their big teeth, and the aforementioned flamethrowers.

There's also the obligatory foray into the sewer system to confront the now Clydesdale-sized rats.

Try not to turn away as a bare-a$$ed man is relieved of his manhood, and another man, thankfully wearing pants, is transformed into green slime for no apparent reason!

In addition, you'll never look at synchronized swimming in quite the same way again.

WARNING: Nothing can possibly prepare you for the "giant scientist / tiny woman sex scene"! Nothing!...

Years ago, I stumbled onto this by mistake while channel surfing one night. I never watched The Food of the Gods in 1976, but from what I heard, it has no connection to this film.

At a Canadian university, a bunch of lab rats injected with a growth serum created by Dr. Neil Hamilton (Paul Coufos) are set loose by a group of animal rights activists, escape into the sewer, and soon grow to the size of dogs and develop a taste for human flesh as they begin to prey upon people on the campus. But, in a plot that somewhat rips off Jaws, the greedy Dean White refuses to close down the college because of the opening of their new sports complex, although how he manages to keep all the deaths under wraps is anyones guess. So now it's up to Hamilton to track down and wipe out the rodents.

For the most part, the special effects are predictably trashy. The rats are portrayed by a combination of unconvincing puppets, and real rats placed in front of miniature sets, like sewer tunnels and a swimming pool. They use the same effects to make Bobby look huge in the beginning, and it's not very impressive either. Worst of all was his totally fake, giant rubber hand being slapped over his caretakers face in the finale.

There's bad acting everywhere. The cast are made up of c-listers who put no effort into their roles, unless their screaming in agony as their eaten alive by the rats. This was Paul Coufos most "notable" role and he's a terrible leading man here. It's all so corny, there's barely any horror impact at all.

There are some really campy and unintentionally hilarious moments in the film's most surreal scenes. We hear Bobby swearing at and threatening Hamilton in the beginning, Hamilton having a REALLY messed up dream, and Delhurst melting into a puddle of green goo. Plus, there was a pretty cool scene where an exterminator barbecues one of the rats with a flamethrower.

Don't bother with this one unless you're just looking for some cheap enjoyment watching people get eaten by mutant animals.

This movie stinks but I'd like to bring up a scene that comes to mind. The climactic set piece involves giant rats terrorizing a synchronized swimming display commemorating the grand opening of the college swimming pool (that was a mouthful!). The rats come out, people start freaking out and all hell breaks loose. At some point, an armed guard (or a cop, I can't remember) loses his gun and one of the spectators picks it up and starts firing blindly into the crowd, trying to hit the rats but hitting people instead. This scene stands out because it leaves you slack-jawed with disbelief at just how ridiculous this movie can get. The rest of the movie itself is just plain stupid. I don't recommend this movie but I wont give it a complete zero. Rating 1/2* out of *****.

Food of the Gods II tells the legacy of a group of giant, man-eating rats who infest a college campus. Only a determined scientist (Paul Coufos) and his girlfriend (Lisa Schrage) can stop the monstrosity of a menace.

This Canadian production features poor special effects, some of the worst matte effects seen in years. The acting is below average, and production values only qualify this as a mediocre cable movie. Lots of gore galore in this flick, but the film moves in a dreadfully excruciating pace...

Food of the Gods 2 followed 16 years after the original movie and is a lot more gory than Food of the Gods and less enjoyable but not total trash.

An experiment on growth hormone goes wrong and this results in rats growing into giants and going on the rampage. They appear very hungry and kill and eat quite a few people until they are killed at the end. We also get to see the pleasure of a man melting.

This is much more gory than 1976's Food of the Gods but I quite enjoyed it despite this. I laughed at the melting man sequence.

Food of the Gods 2 is worth looking at, despite all that gore.

Rating: 2 and a half stars out of 5.