Rat Fink

source: Rat Fink

Moviecut—Rat Fink

Rat Fink

There just aren't many films about psychotic folk-rockers, but this long thought-lost 1965 psychodrama blazes that trail. Schuyler Hayden portrays a mentally disturbed young musician who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. The film is a low-budget affair, but director James "THE SADIST" Landis and the soon-to-be-famous cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond have crafted an edgy portrait of narcissism run rampant. Aside from the expressionistic B&W cinematography, Ronald Stein's pulsating rock 'n' roll score contributes nervous energy to the events on screen. The music is somewhat reminiscent of the great "orchestral rockabilly" score that accompanied the car chases in Robert Mitchum's THUNDER ROAD. Like 1960's PRIVATE PROPERTY (which also disappeared from the marketplace in the mid-1960's), RAT FINK has been unearthed more than 50 years after its final drive-in theater engagement. It's great to have these long-unseen films resurface on Blu-ray.