Ratman's Notebooks: Difference between revisions

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''Ratman's Notebooks'' is a 1968 horror novel by Stephen Gilbert. Written as a series of diary entries, it tells the story of a reclusive man who discovers he can train rats to do his bidding. Initially, he uses this for some innocent, yet creepy fun. Then he graduates to using them for {{spoiler|thievery}} and finally {{spoiler|murder}}.

Much like [[Robert Bloch]]'s ''[[Psycho]]'', the book seems to have been influenced by real-life murderer, Ed Gein.

 

 

 

Another thing that may or may not be worthy of note is that the novel is set in England while all three movies are set in the USA.

 

* [[Adaptation Distillation]]

* {{spoiler|[[Apocalyptic Log]]:}} Ultimately ends up as this.

* [[Asshole Victim]]: A good number of the people that Ratman plays tricks on {{spoiler|or robs, or kills}} are either known to be this or revealed to be this after the fact

* {{spoiler|[[Dead Man Writing]]: The entire novel is heavily implied to fall under this trope}}

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: The main character. He often comes across as a satirist or an observational comedian rather than the Ed Gein-inspired criminal that he really is.

* [[Diary]]

* [[Disappeared Dad]]

* [[Does Not Like Women]]: Ratman. He gets better.

* {{spoiler|[[Downer Ending]]:}} The 1971 movie

* [[Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas]]: Averted in the book, but played straight in the movies.

* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]

* {{spoiler|[[Gainax Ending]]}}: The 2003 movie

* [[Gory Discretion Shot]]: With {{spoiler|Mister Martin (but only in the book; a certain deleted scene from the 2003 movie should NOT be watched by the faint of heart)}}, very much not the case with {{spoiler|Socrates}}

* {{spoiler|[[Happy Ending]]:}} ''Ben'' (the movie, not the song of the same name)

* [[Hard Work Montage]]: The 2003 movie

* [[It Got Worse]]: From the POV of the townspeople.

* [[Knight of Cerebus]]: {{spoiler|Mr. Martin, when he kills Socrates.}} Up until this point, the novel reads something like a dark satire about various human foibles. Only from this point onward does it truly feel like a horror story.

* [[Kubrick Stare]]: One of the elevator scenes in the 2003 movie.

* [[Meganekko]]: Eve in ''Ben''.

* [[Missing Mom]] (but not initially)

* [[Mythology Gag]]: In the 2003 remake, a television is turned on to a radio station, and the song ''Ben'' by Michael Jackson is played. This is especially interesting, because the song, ''Ben'' was written for the sequel of the same name to the original 1971 Willard, but it would stand to reason that in the world of the 2003 remake, there has been no movie Willard and thus no sequel. So in the 2003 film, the song exists out of nowhere.

* [[No Name Given]]: EVERYBODY except Martin, Ben, and Socrates.

* [[Oh Crap]]: Ratman, upon realizing that {{spoiler|Ben has read his notebook}}.

* [[Pet the Dog]]: In the 1971 movie, Mr. Martin sends Willard home early when he gets a frantic call regarding his mother.

* [[Posthumous Character]]: Mr. Stiles in the 2003 movie due to a subplot about his having committed suicide long ago.

* [[Rodents of Unusual Size]]: Ben's role in the 2003 remake is played by a Gambian pouched rat, a species about five times the mass of a normal rat.

* [[Scrapbook Story]]

* [[Swarm of Rats]]

* [[Title Sequence]]: The 2003 movie has a very memorable one

* [[Villainous BSOD]]

* [[Villain Protagonist]]

* [[You Dirty Rat]]

* [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]]

[[Category:Horror Films]]

[[Category:Horror Literature]]

[[Category:Literature]]