You remember that haunting, high-pitched ballad by a young Michael Jackson? The one where he sings about a friend who is "always running here and there"? Most people think it's just a sweet song about companionship. But if you actually sit down and watch the ben the rat movie, you realize that beautiful melody is dedicated to a literal, swarming army of killer rodents.
It's one of the weirdest pivots in cinema history. Honestly, you've got this 1972 horror sequel that tries to be two things at once: a "Disney-fied" story about a lonely kid and a gruesome "nature strikes back" creature feature. It’s bizarre. It’s messy. And it’s exactly why we’re still talking about it over 50 years later.
The Weird Birth of the Ben the Rat Movie
Before there was Ben, there was Willard. Released in 1971, Willard was a massive hit about a social misfit (played by Bruce Davison) who uses rats to get revenge on his crappy boss. It was dark, psychological, and ended with Willard getting torn apart by his own furry disciples.
Producers saw the box office numbers and didn't care that the main human character was dead. They wanted more. So, they rushed a sequel into production.
Directed by Phil Karlson, the ben the rat movie (simply titled Ben) decided to change the vibe completely. Instead of a creepy adult, they cast Lee Montgomery as Danny Garrison, a young boy with a serious heart condition. Danny is lonely. He plays with marionettes. He’s the "perfect" sympathetic protagonist.
Then he meets Ben.
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Ben isn't just a rat. He’s the survivor of the first movie's massacre. He’s smart, he’s a leader, and for some reason, he decides to become Danny's bodyguard. It basically turns into a story about a boy and his dog, except the dog is a giant black rat that commands a legion of thousands of flesh-eating vermin in the California sewers.
Why the Michael Jackson Connection Matters
You can't talk about this film without the music. Walter Scharf and Don Black wrote the theme song, and Motown suggested their rising star, Michael Jackson, to sing it.
The song "Ben" became a massive #1 hit. It won a Golden Globe. It was even nominated for an Oscar. But there is something deeply surreal about watching Michael Jackson perform this at the 1973 Academy Awards while knowing the lyrics are about a rat that just spent 90 minutes orchestrating the deaths of grocery store owners and local police.
In the film, Danny actually writes the song for Ben. He plays it on the piano. It’s a moment of pure, unironic sentimentality that is immediately followed by scenes of rats swarming a cheese factory and overwhelming grown men with sheer numbers.
The Horror vs. The Heart
Critics back in '72 didn't really know what to make of it. Roger Ebert famously gave it a low rating, calling it a "geek movie" because of the sheer gross-out factor of having live rats crawling all over actors.
And he wasn't wrong.
The special effects—led by animal trainer Moe Di Sesso—were pretty impressive for the time. They used hundreds of real rats. You can see the terror on the actors' faces. There’s a scene in a grocery store where the rats just take over, and it feels claustrophobic and genuinely unsettling.
But then the movie cuts back to Danny and Ben sharing a quiet moment. Danny protects Ben from the cops. He treats him like a misunderstood outcast. This duality is what makes the ben the rat movie a cult classic. It asks the audience to root for the "monsters" even as they’re tearing the city apart.
Quick Facts You Might Not Know:
- The Remake Gap: While Willard got a stylish remake in 2003 starring Crispin Glover, Ben has never been officially remade.
- The Real Ben: The rat who played Ben was actually a large, exceptionally well-trained rodent named "Ben" (original, right?). He was reportedly much calmer than the other rats on set.
- The Sewer Climax: The ending features the police using flamethrowers and high-pressure hoses in the sewers to wipe out the colony. It’s a surprisingly violent and pyrotechnic finale for a movie that features a Michael Jackson ballad.
The Lasting Legacy of Ben
Does the movie hold up? Kinda.
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If you're looking for modern CGI scares, you'll be disappointed. But if you appreciate the gritty, experimental nature of '70s horror, it’s a goldmine. It captures a specific era where filmmakers were willing to mix genres in ways that feel "wrong" today.
The ben the rat movie taps into a universal fear of the "unseen" things living beneath our feet, but it layers it with a story about disability and isolation. Danny’s heart condition makes him an outcast, just like Ben. They are both "vermin" in the eyes of a society that doesn't want to deal with them.
That’s the nuance most people miss. It’s not just a "killer rat movie." It’s a tragedy about two different species finding a connection in a world that wants to exterminate them both.
How to Experience the Story Today
If you want to dive into the world of Ben and Willard, here is the best way to do it:
- Watch the 1971 Willard first. It sets the stage and explains why Ben is so cynical about humans.
- Listen to the lyrics of the song again. Now that you know it's about a rat leading a revolution, lines like "They don't see you as I do / I wish they would try to" hit a lot differently.
- Check out the 1968 novel Ratman's Notebooks by Stephen Gilbert. This is the source material that started it all. It's much darker than the movies and offers a chilling look at the "journals" of the original Willard.
- Look for the Scream Factory Blu-ray. They released a high-quality restoration of Ben that includes interviews with Lee Montgomery. It’s the best way to see the practical rat effects without the graininess of old TV edits.
The ben the rat movie remains a singular piece of pop culture history. It’s the only film where a "creature" can be both a cold-blooded killer and the subject of one of the most famous love songs of all time. Whether you find it touching or just plain gross, you definitely won't forget it.