metalrage666 Mulberry Street is your stock standard rat virus that turns people into bloodthirsty idiots movie. Movie starts off a little slow as it introduces the random assortment of characters whose lives are all intertwined by living in a crumbling old New York apartment building. The opening sequence has flashes of rats scampering through pipes, sewers and subways and then focusing their attention on the human world above.Through random news broadcasts we get the story of people on the subway getting bitten by rats and this leads to the shutdown of the subway system and then the gradual quarantine of manhattan. The first we see of the outcome of these infected rat bites is when the aforementioned apartment building super, finds what he thinks is a dead and almost dessicated rat that somehow springs back to life and still has enough strength to bite into his arm. A while later he finds himself growing extra hair and generally feeling uneasy as he starts to transition from poor excuse for a building super into an even poorer excuse for a rat-man. More news broadcasts tell us that the rat bites are spreading and the city hospitals etc are being overrun. Before too long, the city streets become a free-for-all as law and order starts to break down and rat infected people start to randomly attack people, first on the street and then by breaking into homes and anywhere where people are taking refuge. Initially the authorities downplay the increase in rat bites saying that hundreds of people are bitten by rats in New York every day, however they don't start to mutate and kill people. Most of the movie centers around the small apartment block and the survivors holed up in their rooms trying to stay quiet and alive and wait for the military to start operations to sweep the city and rescue them. These recently mutated people have excellent hearing and insatiable appetites and unlike other movies in this genre, they won't just eat humans, we also see cats and other pets being grabbed and killed as anything is considered as food. By the end heavily armed soldiers in biohazard suits storm the buildings one by one and kill anyone who's infected and take into isolation any survivor. From there the movie just ends once most of the main cast has been killed and only a couple of residents who made it to the roof of the building end up being saved. As mentioned, the movie is not without its flaws. Most of the action takes place at night and as this was done on a budget, the filming is of the shaky hand-held camera kind. While this isn't a found footage movie, it plays like it's being filmed in front of an on scene camera crew, with all the running, fighting and horror scenes ending up as a blurry mess of action and with all the darkness and shadows you're hard pressed to work out what exactly is going on. In addition there's no real indication of what started the whole rat plague and there is no ending and no outcome. We have no idea if New York is now a no-go hot zone or if the whole island will need to be fumigated once all humans have been removed as there is no reason to assume the plague will fix itself. There is some indication that the plague/virus may have been deliberately generated as the movie focuses on the fact that lower manhattan is due for redevelopment and the apartment building at the centre of this film has been acquired and all tenants were due to make their respective apartments available for rent re-evaluation, however if most people are dead or relocated out of fear of spreading the virus, then development can proceed unhindered. That's at least what I took from this, of course I could be wrong, and unless they come out with a sequel I'm sticking to it.

GL84 After a viral outbreak in New York, a small band of survivors finds the streets overrun by a ravenous swarm of mutated rat-like beings and tries to escape from their clutches before becoming like them.This is an incredibly underwhelming and really unremarkable effort. Among the numerous flaws here is the fact that this one is just not all that exciting overall, as the first half here is just not all that enjoyable. The fact that the virus comes so late into this one that means it spend a large portion of time with the rather boring family and their friends in the apartment just yakking about their daily lives which is not all that interesting to start this one off. This makes for plenty of tired scenes that really seem to make this one quite bland all throughout the first half as there's just no real horror during these scenes and really takes a toll on getting this one going. Of course, there's little to be done in here for the rather haphazard editing in the action scenes which shake with such frequency it's impossible to tell what's going on. Jumping around and shaking throughout here, this is utterly impossible to really see clearly which really makes for a troubling time during the action segments which are what you want to be able to give a clear look at for viewers when combined with the boredom as well as really helping to overwhelm the few positives within. The attacks by the creatures are a lot of fun as they're effectively made into threats so the diner encounter, the frantic escape in to the sewers and the series of battles on the street make for some exciting times due rot their savageness and ferocity. These are especially useful on display during the massive attack while barricaded in the apartment complex which is all sorts of fun throughout this, getting in some great action along with some suspense and jumps along the way. This also gets in some good points with the special effects for the creatures looking decent enough when we can see them and a couple nice bloody deaths, but overall can't quite overcome the massive, problematic flaws.Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

chaosbaron The film market today is absolutely flooded with zombie films, shows, games, and other media and they all seem to follow the exact same formula and tired clichés. With most zombie media, there is a skip strait to the apocalypse, this being the reason that it just doesn't make sense how such a thing could spread. This film actually attempts to show the slow transition, which is appreciated for the simple fact that it is different. There is a degree of suspense building and some decent character establishment before the action kicks off. The acting is acceptable, with nothing detracting from immersion. Camera quality is clearly lower budget. It can employ the shaky and rapidly moving camera technique during action scenes which is a bit annoying. I have to comment on the music choice during the initial action scene which was some indie track. Not a fitting choice, and made the scene kinda feel less intense. Overall, not a bad choice for major zombie fans, otherwise, a pretty average horror film.

Woodyanders A mutant strain of rats cause folks who get bitten by the vile vermin to transform into vicious and bloodthirsty rodent-like humanoid beasts. A handful of people residing in a shabby and crumbling New York City apartment complex find themselves in a dire situation when the creatures take over Manhattan. Director/co-writer Jim Mickle relates the gripping story at a brisk pace, does an ace job of creating and sustaining a mounting sense of gloomy flesh-crawling dread, builds a considerable amount of nerve-shredding claustrophobic tension, presents well drawn and credible characters, stages the ferocious attack sequences with real skill and aplomb, makes vivid and flavorsome use of the blighted urban Big Apple setting, and concludes the whole picture on a chillingly bleak note. The fine acting from the able non-star cast rates as another major asset, with stand-out work by Nick Damici as tough former boxer Clutch (Damici also co-wrote the tight and engrossing script), Kim Blair as Clutch's scrappy and resilient Gulf War veteran daughter Casey, Ron Brice as amiable gay Coco, Tim House as grumpy infected superintendent Ross, Bo Corre as no-nonsense barmaid Kay, Larry Fleischman as the cranky, excitable Charlie, Larry Medich as feisty, but ailing old geezer Frank, and John Hoyt as burly, rugged bar owner Big Vic. Popping up in nifty bits are Debbie Rochon as a TV newscaster and Larry Fessenden as some cowardly jerk. The rat people are genuinely gross, creepy, and scary while the startling outbursts of brutal and grisly violence pack a pretty nasty punch. Best of all, the resolutely serious and gritty tone and welcome absence of any needless campy humor ensure that the severity of the horror is served straight up in a pleasingly harsh and uncompromising manner. Ryan Samul's lively hand-held cinematography adds an extra thrilling kinetic buzz. Andreas Kapsalis' shivery score likewise hits the spine-tingling spot. A real sleeper.