Ratman's Notebooks

"Tear him up."

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 thievery and finally murder.

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

It is perhaps best remembered for its two movie adaptations, both called Willard. The first was made in 1971 and starred Bruce Davison. The second one was made in 2003 and had Crispin Glover cast in the lead role.

The 1971 movie also had a sequel, Ben, released in 1972. The Michael Jackson song of the same name was written for this movie and plays over the end credits.

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.

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Tropes used in Ratman's Notebooks include:

• Adaptation Distillation
• Alone with the Psycho
• Apocalyptic Log: Ultimately ends up as this.
• Asshole Victim: A good number of the people that Ratman plays tricks on or robs, or kills are either known to be this or revealed to be this after the fact
• Becoming the Mask: Sort of. Ratman eventually becomes bored with his criminal activities, but he's proud enough of his exploits to keep a diary in the hope that his grandchildren will find it after he's dead.
• Boy Meets Girl
• The Cast Showoff: Crispin Glover sings over the end credits of the 2003 movie.
• Cerebus Syndrome: This book is actually more like a dark comedy in the first half.
• Character Title: The Movies
• Chekhov's Gun: Mr. Stiles's knife from the 2003 movie (but only after Executive Meddling altered the ending)
• Composite Character: In the 1971 film, Mr. Martin fills the function of at least one other character from the novel.
• 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.
• Death by Adaptation: Ben in the 2003 movie
• Diary
• Disappeared Dad
• Does Not Like Women: Ratman. He gets better.
• Downer Ending: The 1971 movie
• Dragon-in-Chief: Ben
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Averted in the book, but played straight in the movies.
• Even Evil Has Standards
• Executive Meddling: The 2003 Movie; Arguably for the better as it gave the movie what some people consider to be a much eerier ending.
• Gainax Ending: The 2003 movie
• Gory Discretion Shot: With 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 Socrates
• Half-Human Hybrid: The general public believes Ratman to be one of these (in no small part due to his disguise)
• 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.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: The end of the book, although the "killed" bit is open for debate
• Knight of Cerebus: 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.
• Large Ham: Anytime R Lee Ermey is in front of the camera.
  • Crispin Glover really has his moments.
• Lighter and Softer: Ben
  • The character of Willard from the movies when compared to how Ratman acts in the novel.
• Meganekko: Eve in Ben.
• Missing Mom (but not initially)
• My God, What Have I Done?
• 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 Ben has read his notebook.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: The main character is only known by the name of his criminal alter-ego, The Ratman. The other characters know his real name, but they sure don't tell us.
• 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.
• Pragmatic Adaptation
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • Even after Socrates dies, Ratman is still largely concerned with using the rats to make end's meet and puts his plan for vengeance on the backburner for a while
  • Ratman suddenly takes pity on Mr. Martin at the last second, but leaves him for dead anyway for the sole reason that he saw Ratman without his mask.
• Relationship Upgrade
• 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
• Spared by the Adaptation: The main character in the 2003 movie
• Swarm of Rats
• Title Sequence: The 2003 movie has a very memorable one
• Too Soon: Arguably an inversion. Robert Bloch wrote Psycho when the Ed Gein case was still fresh in the public's mind. For whatever reason, Gilbert waited 8 years. Both books were each made into 2 movies, but Bloch's is definitely more well-known. If there was ever a case against tactfulness, this would be it.
• Ultimate Job Security
• Unexpected Inheritance
• The Unfavorite: Ben
• Villainous BSOD
• Villain Protagonist
• What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: The 2003 movie. When Willard starts "hearing things", a bunch of children's voices are thrown in for apparently no reason other than to add to the disorienting effect.
• Who's Laughing Now?
• You Dirty Rat
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness