Ratter (2015)

Ratter (2015) was not bad!

Let’s do one of my favourite exercises: translate a German review I found and comment on the film based on that review!

Here we go: ‘A revolutionary psychological thriller that shows a world filled with cameras’… there are two cameras (a mobile phone and a laptop) and as not much happens during the first 60 minutes, you hope that the finale will happen, but the cameras show practically nothing… after the end credits, there is still something that doesn’t resolve anything, doesn’t shock and doesn’t do anything else! Target audience (if any): women, naive, aged 16 to 25.

Well… he or she didn’t like it! Personally, I enjoyed it!
But I understand that some people might not agree.

A revolutionary psychological thriller? Well, not anymore! There are quite a few films like this now. But when this film came out, it was very original, yes.

In fact, it’s ‘found footage’, i.e. it follows the handheld camera concept launched by Blair Witch. But here, it’s filmed by someone who doesn’t know she’s being filmed or who doesn’t necessarily want to be filmed. So… yes, there are long static scenes, scenes cut off in the middle of dialogue, snippets of moments in the life of this relatively normal teenager. She has fun, dances, plays sports, studies, spends a lot of time on her phone and computer.

A world full of cameras, yes! How sad! It’s scary, when it should be reassuring.

You might think that not much happens during the first 60 minutes, but it all depends on what you’re looking for in a film. Here, it’s about a person who observes without being seen, throughout the entire film. Admittedly, if you want to see an action film, you’re out of luck.

The film helps to create a sense of paranoia. It shows that people who put a large black sticker over their computer camera lens are probably right to do so, because we don’t know if a hacker can see us, film us or take photos of us.

We hope that the finale will happen? But the finale does happen! Except that it’s not spectacular gore. It’s a real drama that won’t appeal to thrill seekers… AND THAT’S EVEN MORE DRAMATIC! People are no longer able to recognise real drama! If someone dies, it’s nothing, especially if they’re not tortured for an hour of film! But if an explosion decimates millions of people, that’s where the drama lies.

I only agree with the end of the review, which says, ‘after the end credits, there’s still something that doesn’t resolve anything, doesn’t shock and doesn’t do anything else!’
Indeed, if you’re going to have a final scene, it might as well add something, but here… it really adds absolutely nothing!

Target audience: women, naive, aged 16 to 25? Unfortunately, this is also the actual age range of victims targeted by this type of psychopath. We can either mock the naivety of young people, forgetting that we were surely much worse at their age… but those who criticise will never admit that! 😉

I think that as a parent, this film can increase your concern and make you want to protect your children even more. One crime is one crime too many!

It’s not a film you’d want to see again, but for someone like me who hates handheld camera films, I actually enjoyed it. It’s disturbing to see an hour through the eyes of a stalker. I’m not sure if this film really had an impact and if the director, Branden Kramer, was able to get his message across. But it’s still a good film of its kind, well made for a film that is meant to be poorly made.

I’m not a fan of Ashley Benson, but I admit she does a good job.