HALLOWEEN HORRORFEST 2021/RATAPALOOZA NIGHT SIX: Deadly Eyes ( a.k.a. NIGHT EYES, 1982)

Today our sponsor is one of my Patreons, Sean Foster.  If you become a Domicile of Dread Patreon, you get to sponsor a film during each Halloween Horrorfest, as well as early access to podcasts, essays and other stuffage...like the special discussion I have to edit with the one and only Michael Bailey about the very...70's Marvel super-group The Champions!  Sean represents The American Civil Liberties Union!

Sean has chosen an 80's film directed by an unusual choice, namely martial arts film specialist Robert Clouse, Deadly Eyes.

Man, this film does not bother playing around....

This isn't a joke.

Health inspectors Kelly (Sara Botsford) and George (Scatman Crothers) order a massive store of grain infused with steroids and rife with rats to be destroyed.  Unfortunately, some of those rats have been eating that grain and has become the size of Dachshunds (no, really; in group shots the special effects crew put Dachshunds in rat suits).  They escape into the subway system and discover a taste for human flesh...so as Kelly begins a romance with teacher Paul (Sam Groom), the pack grows in power ready to invade whatever's available--a movie theater, a bowling alley, wherever citizens are available for snacking.

First off...let's visit The Ratapalooza Checklist!

1) IS CANADA SUBBING FOR AMERICA?  Hard to tell...it was shot in Toronto, and there is a partial shot of an American flag, but the producers made sure to replace all that LaBatt's with Pabts Blue Ribbon and they never specifically say what city it is.  I will say NO

2) DOES SOMEONE OFFSCREEN THROWS A RAT AT SOMEONE TO MAKE IT SEEM LIKE IT'S ATTACKING HIM?  Yes, on two occasions

3) ARE THERE CUTE RAT PUPPETS:  Yes.  Oh my, yes.

4) IS THERE A SPEECH ABOUT HOW BAD-ASS RATS ARE?: First thing in the film!

5) IS A CAT VICTIMIZED BY RATS: Yep!

My first thoughts going in was 'Why is Robert Clouse directing a giant rat movie?'  I found out rather quickly why--this film, even though it was shot in Canada and featured Canadian actors, was produced by China's Golden Harvest Production.  And, to be fair, Golden Harvest is pretty upfront in their participation; when the high schooler with a crush on Paul goes to the movies, she goes to a Bruce Lee retrospective, and the film shown is Game of Death.

...and to be thoroughly honest, Clouse turns out to be a decent fit for this project, as he treats the first and third act as an action movie.  There's literally a rat attack every five minutes during the first half hour, and this makes the film very briskly paced.  And the final half hour is incredibly fun--and funny--as we see loads of these rat puppets munching down on random Canadians.  Also, the choice to use Dachshunds actually works pretty well as stand in for big ass rats, only letting us down in a couple of shots.

But damn, that middle half hour...after this exhilarating cavalcade of rat carnage, we are made to sit down and watch a rather rushed romance between Kelly and Paul which is dire.  Neither Groom or Botsford have any chemistry between them, and Groom in particular seems to not understand how emotions work.  The two of them are...adequate to okay apart, but together they're insufferable.  And don't get me started on how creepy the subplot with a student of Paul (played by the lovely Lisa Langlois, who does have charisma) crushing on him to the point of sneaking into his apartment and stripping down to her underwear.  There's a moment when Kelly, thinking Paul is sleeping with his student, takes off with his son for the grand opening of a new subway station, and there's no emotion coming off of either of them.  It's very frustrating that the film comes out of the gate so strongly, and ends not-quite-as-strongly yet this middle bit drags like someone came out of nowhere and broke both its legs.

I cannot in good conscience call Deadly Eyes good.  But I also cannot deny that I had loads of fun watching the film.  It's not inept, but it's kinda endearing in its lack of polish.  Maybe if they had cast better leads (wasn't Art Hindle still hanging out in Toronto back then?), I would be enthusiastically recommending it instead of mildly telling you it's good.

Tomorrow, we go from Canada subbing for America (I think?) to Staten Island subbing for period England.  It's the first time I have to call upon The Ratapalooza Randomizer, and it has offered up the Andy Milligan oddity The Rats Are Coming!  The Werewolves Are Here!  Get ready for some real community theater costumes and laughable accents.

There are presently thirteen open slots for this year's festival, and if you'd like to be included, there are four ways to get your share of the spotlight:

1) You can become a Domicile of Dread Patreon at any level.  Patreons always get a free slot, as well as advance access to podcasts and other goodies!

2) You can buy me a coffee at Ko-Fi.  Suggested donation is $3

3) You can make a donation to Queens Community House Covid-19 Relief and Recovery Campaign.  Suggested donation is $10.  Please forward your receipt to me as proof.

4) You can choose to make a donation to the charity chosen by a sponsor on his/her/their day. Like with the third possibility, please forward me proof of donation.

It is not necessary to choose a rat-based horror film.  However, if you do, I will forward you a special Ratapalooza banner you can display on your website.