Drive-In Dust Offs: DEADLY EYES (1982)

Until you start watching killer rat movies, you don’t realize how few killer rat movies there are. It’s not a sub-genre that sparked off franchises (does Willard and its sequel Ben count? Let me know) or inspired Funko toys, but rather has films strewn here and there throughout horror history. Today we’re scurrying back to my particular turf for Deadly Eyes (1982), Golden Harvest’s Canadian-lensed attempt to move over from Kung Fu to Rodent Fu. (Sorry Joe Bob Briggs, I couldn’t resist.)

Released in October by Golden Harvest (the Honk Kong based studio with nearly 300 production credits) in Canada and stateside by Warner Brothers the following April, Deadly Eyes (aka Night Eyes) laid droppings all over the place according to critics and audiences alike, and was quickly relegated to clamshell heaven. Was it a film ahead of its time? God no. But Deadly Eyes is way more fun than I remembered, even if it could use some serious weight loss around a paunchy midsection.

Our film opens with health inspector Kelly Leonard (Sara Botsford – Murder by Phone) and her field agent George Foskins (Scatman Crothers – The Shining) checking out a chemically contaminated shipment of grain. Once taken away to be destroyed, the film is off and running; rats eat the feed and grow to the size of dachshunds, which they’re played by (excuse me?), a baby is munched (sorry, say what now?), we get a bowling alley massacre (haha really?) followed by a movie theatre invasion (STAWP IT) and culminating in a subway melee between the giant rodents and our heroes (HOT DAMN!). The End.

Except not really, because I’ve left out that middle section with the love story between Kelly and high school teacher Paul Harris (Sam Groom – Deadly Games), a single dad and the object of affection for student Trudy (Lisa Langois – Happy Birthday to Me). This little love triangle plays out ridiculously later on, and just as ridiculous is the love scene between Kelly and Paul, complete with roaring fireplace and shadowed areolae (incidentally, the name of my straight edge band). Once you separate this chaff from the wheat however, you’re left with a first rate When Animals Attack cum Giant Monster flick.

Let’s start with those darn rats, shall we? It makes my heart grow at least two sizes larger to see director Robert Clouse (Enter the Dragon) use actual dachshunds in rat costumes, because: a) it’s inventive, and b) it mostly works. It gives them a sense of scale that just can’t be attained with camera trickery, and to makes them even more endearing, animatronic puppetry is used for close-ups, Muppet rodent heads sloppily bobbing in blood as they gnaw at their victims.

Speaking of victims, Deadly Eyes offers up a banquet of Canadian bacon to chew on; mainstays of the scene such as Cec Linder (Goldfinger) and Lesleh Donaldson (Curtains) offer a comforting feeling to those enamored with maple drenched movies of the era, as do Botsford and Langois, rivals for the affections of Groom.

Speaking of, Sam Groom is an interesting choice for the lead. Conventionally handsome, he comes across as James Franciscus adjacent; which is to say he’s amiable and pleasant and that’s that. Besides Groom, Crothers is the other American brought in to give it that “Hollywood feel”, and as always the Scatman delivers a Scatman performance on par with every other one, even if he does earn his “special appearance” billing.

But cast aside (and they’re all mostly fine), Deadly Eyes thrives in its set pieces, and they are doozies. Clouse was always good with action; his work on Enter the Dragon (1973) was kinetic, which led him to working with Golden Harvest on Bruce Lee’s posthumous release, Game of Death (1978), and their subsequent failed attempt to bring Jackie Chan to North America, The Big Brawl (1980). He was their go-to American director, so it only made sense that Golden Harvest was comfortable utilizing him.

And boy do they get their mileage out of him in the attack scenes; the bowling alley and the subway are great, dynamic and fun, but the theatre is hands down my favorite. Paying tribute to The Blob (1958), the rats fly through the air, knocking over patrons as they scream and scramble for the exits. Kind of sad that no one got to see the end of Game of Death, though. (Not to mention weird that it was showing at a theatre in 1982.) While not overly gory, the deaths are certainly moist enough to appease fans of the genre.

Deadly Eyes will never be described as a perfect horror film (it’s not even the best in its division – my money is still on 1983’s Of Unknown Origin). By that same token, the smaller the sub-genre, the harder it is to hide. And while turning on the light sends most critters scurrying for the dark, this film has just enough integrity to refuse to run, instead rising up on its hind legs and staring you down. If you look really close, you may even see its tail wag.

Deadly Eyes is available on Blu-ray from Scream Factory.