HoopTober 8: Mosquito Takes Mandragon

Movie 3
1st of 6 films with a person of color as director or lead. (excluding Asian)

Maybe I'm stretching the rule a bit here, but Geretta Geretta is almost the lead actor in this, and she's certainly the best of the cast (although that is definitely damning with faint praise).

So, yes, this is a Mattei/Fragasso joint, so one doesn't embark on this Italsploitation jaunt with high expectations of craft or skill on the part of anyone involved. And it's true that Rats: Night of Terror doesn't exactly rank among the pantheon of fine quality horror fare. However, that doesn't matter, because it's more fun than a bag of rodents and almost as cunning.

So there is nonsensical plotting and ridiculously over-wrought acting aplenty. In fact, the only time the actors aren't screaming at each other is when they are getting a bucket of rats poured onto them from off camera, which is weird because that's the moment I'd be most likely to start screaming.

Actually, the production design and cinematography are a lot better than I've come to expect from Mattei - this probably counts as his best film in that respect. And the score is actually quite effective. It's amazing how those few elements can lift a Mattei film from borderline unwatchable into something really quite entertaining.