Ben

Ben (1972) is Phil Karlson's American horror picture, and you can watch it online on iFILM. It picks up exactly where Willard left off, with the rat swarm now led by its cleverest member — a rodent named Ben.

David Garrison, a lonely, sickly boy, finds his only real friend in Ben. He hides the rat at home, talks to it, even writes it a little song, with no idea how dangerous his companion truly is. Underground, Ben commands a pack that spills into the city and starts killing. The police track the outbreak while David refuses, right up to the end, to accept that his friend has to be put down. Lee Montgomery plays the boy and Joseph Campanella the detective leading the hunt.

The film is remembered less for its rats than for its title ballad, "Ben," sung by a young Michael Jackson. That song took a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination, becoming a far bigger hit than the movie around it. A curious slice of 1970s killer-animal horror. Stream Ben (1972) online on iFILM.