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Post by dem bones on Aug 28, 2013 9:31:29 GMT
Chauncey G. Parker – The Visitor (Nel, Oct 1982: originally New American Library, 1981) Blurb: Their home was a secure castle – a haven of peace and safety amid the urban rot and threat of New York. Now with his wife and children away for the summer, Bart Hughes’ house was more peaceful still. Until he discovered that he was not alone. That an uninvited guest was in his house. Until the house became a stalking ground where he hunted his inhuman intruder. Until he realised that he was hunted and not hunter. That he was trapped by the VisitorYes, it really is a low budget – one rodent – version of The Rats … There's a rat in Bartlett 'Bart' Hughes' kitchen, his bedroom, his cellar ... all over the godd**n Manhattan luxury apartment, and the bastard is nigh on indestructible. Cletus Washington, the grizzled old superintendent, feeds him an encyclopaedic knowledge of the species and removal the of same, sells him multiple traps and poison pellets (the tenacious visitor is wise to them all), in short, does everything but what Bart wants him to do, which is to kill the rat for him. Transpires that Clete has been waiting for Bart to ask all along, just so he can put down a pampered rich boy. "You know, sometimes in life, comes a time when people got to get their hands dirty ... even for the book kind like you." George the security guard is another fountain of knowledge on the subject, and, after scaring the crap out of Bart by slipping inside his flat in the middle of the night - the conniving rat triggered the alarm back at base - he reassures him by relating his own experience of hyper-intelligent rodents, the most vicious being the filthy sewer rat who made short work of a cat. "Didn't kill him exactly, but might as well ... beat him up so bad. The old lady, she had to take him to the vet, to get him sewed up, but the vet, he took one look, and put the needle in him instead. And that was that, far as the cat was concerned." All this helpful advice - genuine or otherwise - is only serving to unhinge Bar until the rat occupies his every waking hour, the sleeping ones, too. He'll kill the invader or die trying. Unfortunately for Bart, the rat feels exactly the same way ... to be continued ...
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Aug 28, 2013 10:16:51 GMT
A film, OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN (1983), was made from this. I never managed to finish it, but it is supposed to be riveting.
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rob4
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 104
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Post by rob4 on Aug 28, 2013 16:46:48 GMT
A film, OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN (1983), was made from this. I never managed to finish it, but it is supposed to be riveting. I was rather fond of OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN - it had Peter Weller (underrated actor imo) going stark raving mad over a rat in his kitchen (ok in his lovely apartment). I remember thinking that it was quite a taut film and made the most of it's flimsy premise. Over at imdb I was surprised to see the director was George P. Cosmatos who I'd never really rated, but have to say did a decent job on this one. I didn't know that it had been based on a book.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Aug 28, 2013 18:55:12 GMT
Cosmatos has made a number of very entertaining films. I recommend THE CASSANDRA CROSSING (1976), a disaster thriller about disease outbreak on a train with a very interesting all-star cast.
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