‘At this moment someone could be listening… watching… recording…’
Ratter is a 2015 American horror thriller written and directed by Branden Kramer (short: Webcam). The movie stars Ashley Benson, Matt McGorry, and Kaili Vernoff.
Plot:
Emma, a graduate student living alone in New York City, is being watched by a stalker who hacks into the technology that surrounds her – laptop, cell phone, and other web connected devices. This obsession continues to grow as the hacker records Emma’s most intimate moments. When the thrill of watching isn’t enough, the situation escalates to a dangerous and terrifying level…
Reviews:
“Try to imagine following a young, immature college girl around 24 hours a day. Imagine how much of your hair you’d have pulled out by mid-day. Now imagine you could even handle that for 90 minutes. Now be honest and ask yourself how long it would likely take you to fall into a full-on coma. 90 minutes is damn near enough. Especially when nothing creepy really happens until the final 6 minutes…” Matt Molgaard, Addicted to Horror Movies
“Aside from several cheap shot audio bursts of pounding on doors, “Ratter” is too dull for tension to mount anywhere […] Any fear mongering suggestion that the film is so frightening that the first thing anyone seeing it would be inspired to do is change his/her passwords is hogwash.” Ian Sedensky, Culture Crypt
“With Ratter you’ll get a good surveillance and stalker horror plot and a surprisingly realistic and scary outcome. In fact, these are the two words I’d use to describe this film: Scary and realistic. If you’re ready to just take on the role of a voyeur – and the very unpleasant task of imagining what it would be like to be the victim of this crime – then you should be able to appreciate this movie.” Heaven of Horror
“The pace starts slow and continues to burn at a relatively snail pace for the first half of the movie. It isn’t until around the time that Emma experiences her first ‘home visit’ that momentum starts to build. As the narrative progresses both the tone and the visuals get darker and, without giving any spoilers, the end is a real gut-kicker.” Kat Hughes, The Hollywood News
“The general lack of suspense during the first fifty minutes is really hard to look past though, and leaves Kramer such a tiny window of opportunity to inject some buttock-clenching thrills. Ironically though, that last reel and a half is almost perfection; shoulder-stiffening tension of the highest order. The thing is, will there be anyone left watching by the time this happens?” Dave Wain, The Schlock Pit
“Seeing Emma in her underwear, in the shower, clutching a knife, ties into decades of horror/exploitation heroine tropes, largely conjured by a male-dominated industry. Kramer as a man and filmmaker is gravely aware of this. Ratter‘s consistent towing and subverting of genre, and the inevitable hot-water marriage with its ugliest faults makes for a rich, textual piece of digital cinema.” Benjamin Umstead, Screen Anarchy
Cast and characters:
- Ashley Benson … Emma
- Matt McGorry … Michael
- Kaili Vernoff … Emma’s Mom
- Rebecca Naomi Jones … Nicole
- Alex Cranmer … Professor
- Michael William Freeman … Alex
- John Anderson … Kent
- Dylan Chalfy … Stalker
- Jeremy Fiorentino … Officer Rodriguez
- Karl Glusman … Brent
- Jon Bass … Greg
- Tali Custer … Alissa
- Ted Koch … Dad
- Jason Kolotouros … Officer Cicero
