Using technology as a tool to terrorise originally surfaced in horror during the 70s and 80s when TVs and videos became common household appliances. Self-aware security systems (Demon Seed), fervent televisions (Videodrome, Poltergeist, Terrorvision), cursed VHS (The Video Dead, Ring), record players raising dead rockers (Trick or Treat), evil telephones (One Missed Call), virtual-reality (The Lawnmower Man), demonic gaming (Brainscan, Stay Alive) and the all-pervading internet (Feardotcom, Chatroom, Pulse) have all bee utilised by some kind of on-screen maniacal force or another.
While we wait with bated breath for the zombie Tamagotchi, the weapon of choice for Branden Kramer in his directorial debut Ratter, are the webcams installed in our personal devices. I-phones, tablets and laptops have swiftly evolved into “imperative” tools but should the fact that Ratter doesn’t include a supernatural presence give us reason to disconnect and run screaming into the wild? Kramer’s 2012 short film “Webcam” (which Ratter was based on) was used as a presentation tool by the FBI cybercrimes division, illustrating the significance of its subject, and what with cybercrimes being the most common type of criminal activity in the UK, surely it should be of some concern?
Just as Zuul used Dana Barrett’s fridge as a gateway into our world, Ratter’s antagonist hacks into the software of young New York student Emma (Ashley Benson), manipulating her personal life before making its presence known. Online spying soon turns into gift purchasing, deleting photos then masquerading as Emma’s friends by sending ominous messages on their behalf. Ratter’s villain remains mostly off-screen, presumably so the viewer can conjure their own personal worst nightmare (a textbook horror tactic). But how scary can a self-conjured monster be nowadays? I personally think of Mr Stay Puft (it just popped in there) but assuming the villain is not a demigod minion of Gozer, tech-savvy, to me, implies computer geek in parents basement, or the bloke from IT and while added lunacy twists him into a cellar-dwelling psycho drip driven mental by anomalous porn, it hardly amounts to the likes of Dracula in terms of classic horror icon status.
The last ten minutes of Ratter works wonders when the monster is finally/ partially revealed and its genuinely terrifying presence can be felt, but the rest of the film is mostly monotonous. Emma forms relationships, falls out with exes and finds new love but all through the un-cinematic POV of her jittery devices (placing the viewer in the eye of the antagonist/ which also detracts from the fear). At a time when film-makers are trying to preserve celluloid and/ or draw audiences back to the cinemas with the use of 3D, away from home-steaming/ download alternatives, Ratter feels like an app-generated product best suited to viewing on the iPhone. It’s a step backwards for the medium but raises interesting questions about modern technology and its dominant role in society.
