The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here!

Plot

The film centers on the eccentric Mooney family who live in a large house in rural England in the year 1899. The invalid patriarch 'Pa' Mooney (Douglas Phair) is a retired medical doctor who claims to be 180 years old. His eldest daughter, Phoebe (Joan Ogden), more or less cares for him and is head of the household. His eldest son, Mortimer (Noel Collins), is a businessman who conducts the finances of the family and contributes to the family income. Younger daughter Monica (Hope Stansbury) is a sadist who keeps live rats as pets and frequently mutilates them and other small animals. Youngest son Malcolm (Berwick Kaler) is a halfwit with animalistic tendencies; the family keeps him locked in a room with live chickens. The family has a secret: they are all werewolves! They are natural born werewolves who transform once a month on the night of the full moon. Pa Mooney has been researching for years to find a way to break the family curse.

Youngest daughter Diana (Jackie Skarvellis) returns home from medical school in Scotland with a new husband, a former classmate named Gerald (Ian Innes), of whom Pa Mooney heartily disapproves. Pa tells Diana that she is the last hope the family has to overcome the ancient curse, since she is the only member of the family who does not turn into a werewolf on the night of the full moon. Will Diana succeed? Diana is eventually revealed to have other plans, and on top of that, she has her own secret as to why she is "different" from the other werewolves of Mooney family.

Cast

Release

The film was released theatrically in the United States by William Mishkin Motion Pictures in 1972. It was filmed entirely in England in 1969 back-to-back with other Andy Milligan directed films which included The Body Beneath, Bloodthirsty Butchers, and The Man with Two Heads. Some scenes were filmed nearly two years later in Staten Island at the request of producer William Mishkin to pad out the short running time.

Because of the film's low budget, Milligan actually acted in at least two different roles during the production under two different names which included playing a gunsmith who sells Diana a pistol containing silver bullets, as well as a pawnshop owner named Mr. Micawber in the re-shoot scenes involving Monica and the rats.

The film was released on VHS by Midnight Video in the 1980s.