Rats: Night of Terror (1984)
After the apocalypse, a group of people take shelter in an old building and are attacked by mutant rats.
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Detailed Synopsis
"In the Christian Year, 2015, the insensitivity of man finally triumphs and hundreds of atomic bombs devastate all five continents. Terrified by the slaughter and destruction, the few survivors of the disaster seek refuge under the ground…From that moment begins the era that will come to be called “After the Bomb”, the period of the second human race…A century later several men, dissatisfied with the system imposed on them by the new humanity, choose to revolt and return to live on the surface of the Earth as their ancestors did…So yet another race begins, that of the new primitives…The two communities have no contact for a long period. The people still living below ground are sophisticated and despise the primitives, and regard them as savages…This story begins on the surface of the Earth in the Year 225 A.B. (After the Bomb)"
Kurt and a group of people consisting of Chocolate, Taurus, Video, Myrna, Lucifer, Deus, Duke, Diana, Noah and Lilith drive their vehicles into the ruins of a city. Eventually Kurt decides they can stop for the night, and the group enters a building and begins to search it. Kurt tells Video to scout one side of the bar and Video spots a rat. Video shows Kurt the freezer where the rat came from, and then relates his mom’s recipes for cooking rat after he suggests to Kurt they eat the rats. The group continues to search the building, and enter a room with large green boxes in the center and some beds against the wall. Noah uses a spear to pry open the boxes and finds it filled with packaged food and cans. The rest of the group begins to excitedly open up the rest of the boxes, stopping to eat some of the food when they come across it. Kurt pours flour on Chocolate’s head, to which she exclaims she is now as white as the rest of the group and she starts to dance around. Myrna pulls back the sheet on one of the beds in the room and screams as she discovers underneath the sheet is a body being eaten by rats.
Taurus and Video search the bar area and Video throws a bottle at a rat. Kurt opens the freezer the rats were first found in and finds it now empty. While searching the building, Taurus corners a rat with a broom inside a group of fallen chairs, and when Duke sticks his hand in the chairs it jumps at him and bites him. Kurt, Diana, Lucifer and Deus discover a body sitting in a chair in one of the rooms that is in the same condition as the one found in the bed. Video scares Myrna and Chocolate by sneaking up behind them with a sheet over his head and yelling, “Boo!” to which Chocolate threatens to blow his brains out if he ever does that again. Diana is standing next to a closet showing Kurt a hat she found, when a bloody body falls out of the closet and lands on her. Kurt, Deus, Diana and Lucifer walk into a control room filled with computers and Deus starts to fiddle with a control panel. Kurt asks Deus what the control panel may be, and Video walks in the room and tells Kurt the machine is a video game. By random button pushing, Video is able to turn on the lights in the building. The light reveals a greenery and water purifier to Noah and Lilith who happen to be walking in the room at the time.
Deus correctly infers the machine is a computer and not a video game. Video kicks the machine and it turns on and the words “Total elimination group” appears onscreen. Kurt asks what turned the machine on and Deus suggests Video caused a short circuit by kicking it, or involuntarily asked it a question. Kurt wonders what total elimination of the group means and Deus believes it means the bodies are the group being discussed. Noah and Lilith join the group and Lilith tells them of what she and Noah found. The entire group goes to the greenery and Noah explains to Kurt the group of people they found dead had discovered an artificial way to produce what used to be grown in the outside and he explains how the purifier purifies rain water. The dead bodies are gathered from around the building, piled up outside and burned. Deus says a prayer for the dead, and the group returns to the building. Taurus is having a hard time falling asleep due to Lilith and Lucifer having sex next to him in their sleeping bag. Taurus tells Lucifer to move elsewhere, and Kurt orders Lucifer outside of the room. When Lucifer tries to unzip the sleeping bag, he finds the zipper to be stuck. Taurus unzips the sleeping bag for them and Lucifer and Lilith leave to have sex in another room.
Noah is still in the greenery and is eating some fruit when he hears a noise. Lilith and Lucifer are lying in the sleeping bag, when Lucifer wants more sex. Lilith tells him she is too tired and Lucifer angrily storms off after calling Lilith a stupid bitch. He goes to the bar, and finds a bottle that still has alcohol in it and begins to drink from it. Noah sees rats crawling into the water purification tank and when he tries to grab one of them, he is attacked by a group of rats. Lucifer spots a group of rats and starts to yell at the rats asking if he can join the party. A rat enters the room where Lilith is sleeping, but she doesn’t see it. Outside Lucifer is drunk wandering around when he drops his bottle of liquor into a hole and when he goes to retrieve it, he is eventually attacked by rats. The rat in the room with Lilith manages to gnaw its way inside of her sleeping bag. She wakes up to the rat gnawing on her, but she can’t unzip the sleeping bag and screams. The group that was sleeping run towards Lilith’s screams and find her dead in the sleeping bag, but with no apparent wounds. They blame Lucifer for murdering Lilith by strangling her, until a rat climbs its way out of Lilith’s mouth.
Kurt, who is holding a flame thrower, sets Noah on fire, who is covered in rats, and Noah runs outside before collapsing on the ground. Duke puts Noah out of his misery and and then starts shooting randomly into the darkness. Taurus and Chocolate follow Kurt to the greenery area, and once they open the door, they find it full of rats. Deus runs up to Kurt and tells him that he found Lucifer but he is dead. The group goes to Lucifer’s body and Kurt incinerates it. Taurus tells the group they are stuck because the rats chewed through the vehicle tires. Kurt angrily punches Taurus and blames him for not guarding the vehicles. Duke blames Kurt for their problems and accuses him of blaming others and not himself. Kurt then blames Lucifer and Lilith’s deaths on them having left alone. Duke tries to usurp power from Kurt, but Chocolate implores them to stick together. Kurt challenges Duke to a duel, but Duke backs down. Kurt orders everyone to find items to barricade the room with the beds inside. The group barricades the rooms with the beds inside and Myrna asks what the rats have against them. Deus thinks perhaps the rat’s instinct to kill has been awakened. Taurus tells a story of a time when rats attacked the cave he and his family were living in, but only stole and ate the food. Deus starts to talk about how humans feel they are superior, and how rats used to live in the underground areas and they could tell the difference between a rat from their pack and an intruder by the scent of their urine. Deus then says the rats would kill all strange rats.
Diana is standing next to an un-barricaded area, when she is attacked by rats. Kurt, Taurus, Deus and Video go to the greenery to get water for Diana's wounds, while Chocolate, Duke, and Myrna stay behind with Diana. Duke barricades the last remaining area and convinces Myrna to trust him after he tells her that he can protect her. Kurt, Taurus, Video and Deus go to the water purifier but find it to be full of rats. The group retreats to the stairs, but Kurt’s flame thrower goes out. He orders Taurus, Video, and Deus to follow him up the stairs in single file line. As he is walking up the stairs, Taurus is attacked by a rat and falls down the stairs and is swarmed by rats. Kurt tries to go back for Taurus, but Video drags him away as they are attacked by more rats. Kurt, Video and Deus run from the rats and return to the room only to find it locked. Chocolate tells Duke to let them in, but he ignores her. Chocolate lies and tells Myrna there is a rat near her, scaring Myrna, who bumps into Duke, knocking him over. Chocolate takes Duke’s shotgun and forces him to open the door for Kurt’s group. Kurt enters the room and kicks Duke in the balls and tells him he won’t be so lenient next time. Video wants to go back and see if they can help Taurus. Kurt wants to stay until the dawn before they try and make an escape, while Duke thinks they should try an escape now. The group hears a scream outside the room which they think belongs to Taurus and decide to go save him.
Kurt, Video and Deus open the door, but see the area filled with rats. When Kurt closes the door, the rats become agitated and they flee towards the entrance to the building. Duke grabs Myrna and tells her the time has come for them to leave. Kurt, Chocolate, Deus and Video find Taurus’ body, but it is covered in rats, and rats explode from Taurus’ back. Diana joins the group, and they hear the sound of a vehicle. Duke starts firing the turret rifle at Kurt’s group, but eventually his weapon jams. Kurt orders Duke to come back, and Duke threatens to kill himself and Myrna with a grenade. Duke throws a grenade at a group of rats in the vehicle, which, due to its proximity, kills both himself and Myrna. Kurt notices Diana is missing and orders the remaining members of the group to go and search for her. Diana yells at the rats to come out and then slits her wrists with a piece of glass. Kurt finds Diana’s body being eaten by rats and starts shooting at the rats. Chocolate and Video find Kurt crying at the body of Diana, and Deus joins the three of them. Deus points out that Diana slashed her wrists. Kurt yells that the rats are stronger than they are, and that there are only four members of their group remaining. The group runs away from a large horde of rats and return to the computer room, where they find Lilith’s body. Chocolate finds a recording device which Video is able to turn on. The recording begins with a voice stating it was recorded on the 12th day of Operation Return to Light at 9:15 Federal System time, and Kurt and his group are at Experimental Station Delta 2. Apparently, the dead scientists were three days away from a rendezvous with Omega One, who were coming to save them. The group learns that the rats, whose mutation increased their intelligence, attacked the scientists, as the rats may have resented the intrusion of humans who forced them from below ground onto the surface. The recording continues, stating the reason the rats are attacking is because Kurt and his group are intruding upon the rat’s territory, and they attack anything not of their species.
Deus tells the group he believes something must have happened that has caused the men from below ground to try and make their way above ground. The rats start to gather and gnaw at the computer room door, and Kurt tells Video and Chocolate to hide themselves behind a makeshift barricade while he and Deus try and hold the door against the rats. Outside, a group of people in yellow protective suits and gas masks crawl out of the sewers and make their way through the streets spraying a mist from canisters. The rats are finally able to break down the door to the room and they attack and kill Kurt and Deus. Chocolate asks Video to kill her, but before he does, the smoke that the people in the protective suits were pumping out disperses the rats, and kills some of them. Chocolate and Video begin to cough and leave the building in order to get fresh air. Chocolate collapses into the arms of a Omega One member. Video asks if they are members of Omega One who live underground and if they are friends; both questions receive an affirmative head shake. The member of Omega One that Video was speaking to removes his gas mask and Chocolate screams as it is revealed that Omega One are human-rat mutants.