How does one begin to describe The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here!, other than to remark on how it is one of the rare instances of a horror film perfectly being encapsulated by the title. This is certainly a film that is ambitious enough to be both a horror film about rats and werewolves, a tall order that director Andy Milligan didn’t see many issues in achieving (rumours being that the subplot involving murderous rats was added during post-production as a means of capitalizing on the success of Willard, which was released a year before). It’s a bizarre film that feels detached from any discernible reality – it is clearly trying to follow in the footsteps of Hammer House of Horrors and their particular brand of terror, without possessing the gravitas of that studio’s name (instead being produced by the obscure Constitution Films and distributed by the equally-unknown William Mishkin Motion Pictures), even going so far as to try and replicate the gothic horror of these mostly British productions, arming its amateur actors with poor English accents and dreadfully cheap production design that lacks the majesty of the more famous studio and their kitschy but still remarkable visual scope. Yet, despite all these flaws, The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! is one of the most entertaining films of its era, a daring and provocative psychological horror that is really only a few small steps away from achieving greatness, perpetually on the precipice of being a solid film – and beyond even these merits, the most significant strength of this film is that it is just a lot of fun, a wildly entertaining and diverting experience that reminds us of how even the cheapest films can be effective, and perhaps even revolutionary in their own way.

It goes without saying that potential viewers need to have some degree of a sense of humour to fully enjoy this film – independent horror is not always known for the most flawless, nuanced filmmaking. Instead, they’re often gaudy, over-the-top and, quite frankly, extremely bad. Yet, there is a charm that comes from seeing what these creatively perverse individuals created, particularly in how they gradually pull apart the conventions of the genre and question its roots, making them quite interesting, even if only as experiments. The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! is an extremely enjoyable film, the kind of wildly entertaining horrors that often plays as a dark comedy, albeit entirely unintentionally. We have to appreciate the efforts of the people who genuinely, and without any hesitation, believe that what they’re making is not only good, but that every viewer will feel exactly the same. This is what the concept of “camp” refers to – unintentional comedy brought on through tragically serious artistic endeavours, which situate us in a difficult position – do we laugh, or do we cringe? The answer isn’t entirely clear, and really depends on the individual viewer – for those looking for a straight, effective horror, The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! is likely going to be an enormous disappointment – it’s cheap and ineffectual when it comes to scaring us. However, if we want a film that work better as an experience, something to amuse and entertain, its difficult to not embrace Milligan’s peculiar vision, which is so authentic and interesting (at least in theory), that we simply can’t look away, even when the images reflected back to us on screen are nearly impossible to ignore.

One of the additional benefits that come from genuine efforts to create horror is that those who are making it are so earnest in what they’re doing, they are willing to do anything to get the film made. Whether it be the very clear repetition of the same set, which is being used to represent different locations, or the fact that the director himself plays two roles in extended scenes (actually somehow turning out great performances that one could argue deserved to be in a better movie – but without this desperation to have the story told, there would be no need for such good work), there’s a charm in witnessing the resourcefulness inherent to the film in action. It doesn’t always come across as flawlessly as one would hope – this is an undeniably hideous film, but it serves a purpose, functioning as a very daring attempt to capitalize on a movement towards mysterious, deceptive gothic horrors, where the truth is lurking just out of sight, and there isn’t a happy ending (I’m reminded of another similarly-themed film, The Reptile, which took a similar approach, albeit in a way that was far more artistically-resonant). Ultimately, if you can’t just surrender to the absolute peculiarity of this film and laugh along with it, if not at it, since it’s never even clear if the filmmakers themselves knew how unintentionally entertaining their film would have been. Regardless, it’s always enthralling to see the extent to which Milligan and his cohorts are seemingly willing to go for the sake of having their film made – and it’s in many of these cases that we can find genuine inspiration at work, which is more than can be said for many mainstream entries into a genre that really doesn’t always need the most innovative ideas or technology to be considered effective.

Layering too much credit on the film for its approach to the narrative process is perhaps slightly inappropriate, since The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! was clearly not designed to be the definitive horror of its era, but a quickly-made attempt at entertaining audiences. Ultimately, the audiences that were going to enjoy and appreciate this film are those that would stumble upon it – it is relatively obscure, and isn’t nearly as well-known, not even in terms of proverbial trash cinema, which has often made exceptional use of such stories in conjunction with very cheaply-made efforts. It doesn’t always execute its ideas well, and its only successes are in being unintentionally hilarious, and extremely ugly to look at, with the cheap filmmaking certainly being an acquired taste. However, The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! has enough heart embedded in its fabric to sustain even the most cynical reactions, and for devotees of poorly-made cinema, the film will most likely be an absolute delight. Hilarious, irreverent and consistently pushing at boundaries that it knows is well out of its league, Milligan’s film is a fascinating experiment, and further proof towards the merits that come with a story being told well, and with the kind of fervent dedication that can really only come from bad filmmakers doing their best to tell a story well – when you’re willing to embrace dismal failure, anything above that is considered a rousing success, and The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! just narrowly elevates itself beyond this stage, and quite effectively so – essentially, when the bar is on the floor, absolutely any direction is upwards.