# Help me out with this 70's horror movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 1, 2004, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-with-this-70s-horror-movie/222037 "2004-01-01T01:01:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-with-this-70s-horror-movie/222037/1 "2004-01-01T01:01:10Z")
So today I heard of the existence of an old movie called “Ben,” about a rat that leads a pack of other rats. A kid befriends Ben. There is some wholesale slaughtering of rats, and the kid is upset because he loves his vicious rat. So, is this the same movie that I saw as a kid that scared the bejeebers outta me? It had crowds of rats everywhere, and I particularly remember them eating a baby out of a highchair while the babysitter wasn’t looking, and some flamethrowers, and at the end, when everybody’s happy that the rats are all dead, they’re celebrating in a subway station (why?), and the train pulls in, and there are lots of blue and white balloons, and the train is full of…rats eating the formerly celebratory people! Woo! Two different rat horror movies, or the same one? Somebody help me! And when you’ve figured that out, there are these other horror film snippets that I recall… ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-with-this-70s-horror-movie/222037/2 "2004-01-01T01:05:57Z")
Willard? ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-with-this-70s-horror-movie/222037/3 "2004-01-01T02:58:24Z")
I thought _Willard_ was relatively new–or is it an old movie which has recently been remade? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-with-this-70s-horror-movie/222037/4 "2004-01-01T03:09:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mephisto \* > \*\*I thought _Willard_ was relatively new–or is it an old movie which has recently been remade? \*\* It was remade last year with Crispin Glover, but the [original](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067991/) was made in 1971. ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-with-this-70s-horror-movie/222037/5 "2004-01-01T05:07:23Z")
I didn’t know. Thanks. And happy new year! ---
**Author:** ![donkeyoatey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@donkeyoatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donkeyoatey)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-with-this-70s-horror-movie/222037/6 "2004-01-01T05:38:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dangermom \* > \*\* there are these other horror film snippets that I recall… \*\* Since the question has been answered, how about _The Hills Have Eyes_, I have fond memories of years gone by when horror movies were comedies in disguise. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-with-this-70s-horror-movie/222037/7 "2004-01-01T06:41:45Z")
IMDB isn’t giving me a lot of info on _Willard_, so I can’t tell if it’s the same one. More info, please? [Ben](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068264/) appears to be a sequel to it, so they are related. As long as we’re moving on… Other scary scenes I recall include one where two kids, a girl and a boy, are in a car while a guy tries to get at them through the slightly open window. I think he scares one kid to death or something; I just remember him waving some random tool shape at them and one being dead. And there was one where a girl was being tortured or something by a guy wearing a witch doctor mask–he was drawing lines on her belly with a knife and then showing her wierd little objects that had been dipped in her blood. I think. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-with-this-70s-horror-movie/222037/8 "2004-01-01T14:34:54Z")
the rat movie inquired about I am sure was neither WILLARD (the original) or BEN ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-with-this-70s-horror-movie/222037/9 "2004-01-01T15:09:06Z")
It’s definitely not **Willard** and I’m sure not **Ben**. This [movie](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0083801/) is from 1983, but seems to match your description as best as I can remember it. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-with-this-70s-horror-movie/222037/10 "2004-01-01T15:20:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Julius Henry \* > \*\*It’s definitely not **Willard** and I’m sure not **Ben**. This [movie](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0083801/) is from 1983, but seems to match your description as best as I can remember it. \*\* Just when you think you’ve seen everything - “Dachshunds were dressed up as rats for the special effects.” ---
**Author:** ![Marine\_One](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marine_one/32/3461_2.png) [@Marine\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marine_One)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-with-this-70s-horror-movie/222037/11 "2004-01-01T15:28:19Z")
**Food of the Gods**? [http://www.stomptokyo.com/movies/f/food-of-the-gods.html](http://www.stomptokyo.com/movies/f/food-of-the-gods.html) ---
**Author:** ![vhsiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/cc9497/32.png) [@vhsiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vhsiv)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-with-this-70s-horror-movie/222037/12 "2004-01-01T16:00:08Z")
‘Deadly Eyes’? > **[Deadly Eyes (1982) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083801/)** > > Deadly Eyes: Directed by Robert Clouse. With Sam Groom, Sara Botsford, Scatman Crothers, Cec Linder. Contaminated grain breeds overgrown, killer rats in this Golden Harvest production. Dachshunds were dressed up as rats for the special effects. And 'Food of the Gods was set in a rural Maine community IIRC. On an island, I think… ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-with-this-70s-horror-movie/222037/13 "2004-01-01T19:59:35Z")
Willard is the title character. His pet rat is Ben. The song Ben, by Michael Jackson is from the film. Yes, it’s a love song to a pet rat. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-out-with-this-70s-horror-movie/222037/14 "2004-01-02T06:49:05Z")
‘Deadly Eyes’ looks to be right; the bit about the new subway fits, and I do remember the rats being pretty daschund-sized. Thanks everyone for helping me find some utterly useless information!