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RAT KING

By Petri KOTWICA

Drama - Completed 2010

RAT KING is a thriller with horror elements on how a computer game turns in to life and life turns in to a game – how addiction to games turns in to a nightmare.

- Year of production
- 2010
- Genres
- Drama
- Countries
- FINLAND
- Languages
- FINNISH
- Budget
- 3 - 5 M$
- Duration
- 100 mn
- Director(s)
- Petri KOTWICA
- Writer(s)
- Iiro KÜTTNER, Petri KOTWICA
- Producer(s)
- Kai NORDBERG, Kaarle AHO
- Synopsis
- RAT KING is a thriller with horror elements on how a computer game turns in to life and life turns in to a game – how addiction to games turns in to a nightmare. Juri, 18, is a senior in high school addicted to online-games. He leads his life locked in his room playing games or sleeping during his school classes. His girlfriend calls him a living dead and his parents don’t really get to see him.
  Juri’s acquaintance from the online-world with the pseudonym “Mordred” wants to meet him – in person. “Mordred” turns out to be Niki, 18, who looks strikingly similar to Juri. Niki asks a favour: could Juri hide him in his bedroom for couple of weeks? It’s about a game. Niki quit it online in the middle of it and now the rest of the players – whose idea of reality has turned a bit strange – are threatening his life. Niki needs a safe haven and a secure computer from where to follow the activities of the crazed players. Ilari’s astonished but agrees.
  Juri finds a cd-rom in Niki’s bag and downloads it onto his own computer. It seems to be a game – completely unknown to Juri. Niki is furious. This game is the cause of his problems. It acts like a virus. It corrupts everything - hard drives and above all the whole user’s profile on the Net. Where ever the user opens an online computer with his own name the game appears o the screen with its latest task. It’ll give you five tasks and no one has ever managed to complete them all. Some of the players have ended in mental institutions. Some have committed suicide. The ones who try to quit the game – like Niki – seem to disappear.
  The game starts giving Juri tasks. TASK ONE; A DREAM WHERE THERE ARE RATS. Juri has studied a story about the piper of Hameln, the lost children and rats and how the parents killed them. He has a dream about rats. TASK ACCOMPLISHED. TASK TWO; SEDUCE YOUR MOTHER. Juri seduces his own mother by e-mails and arranges a blind date at the local hotel with her – but never turns up there himself. TASK ACCOMPLISHED. TASK THREE; LIVE WITH A DECEASED FOR SEVEN DAYS. TASK ACCOMPLISHED appears on the screen immediately. How come? Juri does not understand.
  The deeper Juri gets into the game, more Niki starts taking over his everyday life. They start to resemble each other more and more. While Juri is playing the game Niki is attending his classes for him. He entertains Juri’s girlfriend for him. He helps Juri’s dad at the garden.
  Juri starts to suspect Niki’s motives. He opens Niki’s laptop and finds the same game – only this time played by Niki. It is in the middle of Niki’s TASK FOUR; TAKE OVER SOME ONE ELSE’s LIFE: Juri understands that Niki has never quit the game. He’s just completing the FOURTH task. Which one of the boys will complete the game – which one of them gets Juri’s life for himself? Which one gets to complete the last task of which completion will take rest of the life?
- Production schedule
- Principal shooting autumn 2010.
  Premiere February 2011.
- Beginning of shooting
- Sep 01, 2010