Sunday, January 29, 2023

Shudder Sunday: The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves are Here! (1972)

 My first- official- look at an Andy Milligan Film.
Be afraid- be very afraid.

Is this another case of a great (read: silly) Title and not a good Film?  Let's see...

Out in England, an eccentric Family lives in solitude.

The Mooneys are strange, violent and have an animalistic Adult Son.

It's like a worse version of The Kardashians, really.
The Eldest Daughter has returned to the Home from a long trip abroad to study Medicine at the behest of her ailing Father.  Why?

Upsetting everyone is the fact that she's now married, and her new Husband is in the dark about, well, everything.

Ah, young love.
Everyone makes a big to-do about it and things only get worse around the House.

Mind you, the Film begins with them lighting the one Son on fire, so...not a great baseline.

What secrets do they keep?
So here's a little (well-known) secret about this Film...

It was mostly shot in 1969 (alongside 3 other Films) while Milligan was in England.

It was too short, so he shot another 20 minutes of Scenes involving Shopkeepers (both played by him) who add, well, mostly filler to the Plot.

One sells some rats- since Willard had just been a hit in 1972- and the other sells a gun that appears later (without explanation before, presumably).
More scheming and vague talk about the family's secret.  I sure hope that the Title doesn't give it away.

There's a B-Plot revealing the 'gross' reason why the one Son is different.

We also get some mild animal abuse, which might be real.  At the same time, however, the way it is shot disguises alot (and makes some of it look fake) ...so who knows?
As it turns out, the Family are all Werewolves.
Shocking- I know.

Things go poorly on a Full Moon Night and take a final turn when our Heroine reveals her personal secret.
No SPOILERS though.

To find out what happens (eventually), stream it now...
A slow, but steady Film.  It does eventually get to a point.  Why it thinks that the Werewolf thing is a big reveal with this Title is anyone's guess though.

There's nothing amazing about the Acting, Staging, Direction or anything.  It was shot at a nice House- like the other Milligan Films shot in England.  I don't know if a Film like this is good for Tourism, but who knows?

It's funny when you realize that the new material was shot in STATEN ISLAND three years later.  It's not super-obvious- to be fair to Milligan- since he never visibly connects the 3 locations.  That said, he also never visibly connects the 3 locations...

If you don't like Films about terrible, mean people, this is definitely NOT for you.  The Mooney Family is pretty bad all around, whether it is the murder, abuse or just general dickery.  They do get punished in the end, of course.

The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! doesn't sound like the worst of Milligan's Films (having seen a Review of The Body Beneath).  Just don't go in expecting the whole 'rat sub-plot' to really matter, no matter how cute this fake rat is...

Andy Milligan made an... interesting Film.  I'm curious to see if I love or hate more of his stuff in the future.

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