History Literature / RatmansNotebooks

* [[ClingyJealousGirl Clingy Jealous Mouse]]: Ben is jealous of Willard's love for Socrates (not in the 1971 film, however).

* YouDirtyRat: Even when he's as fond of the rats as he ever gets, Ratman still can't seem to bring himself to believe they might have ''minded'' that one of their colony-members got killed on a criminal outing of his.

* AntiVillain: Ben is suggested to be one; he was initially following Ratman/Willard's commands until he decided to take over the rat colony because the protagonist was endangering the colony and got one of their members killed during one of his outings. In the 2003 film; this is a bit more ambiguous because Ben was disobedient from the beginning, the death of Scully the cat was [[PredationIsNatural for the sake of food]] and so [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority Ben can prove himself as a new leader of the colony]]. [[spoiler: Ben and the colony were also abandoned by Willard when he sent the elevator down while they were eating Mr Martin, which would have gotten them killed by pest control in the morning. From Ben's perspective; Ben is taking control of a colony of rats which were objectified and abandoned by their previous leader, then he provided them with the means of getting revenge.]]

''Ratman's Notebooks'' is a 1968 British 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 them for some creepy-but-innocent fun. Then he graduates to using them for less innocent purposes.
Much like Creator/RobertBloch's ''Literature/{{Psycho}}'', the book seems to have been influenced by real-life murderer, Ed Gein.

''Ratman's Notebooks'' is a 1968 British 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 them for some creepy-but-innocent fun. Then he graduates to using them for [[spoiler:thievery]] and finally [[spoiler:murder]].

* OhCrap: Ratman, upon realizing that [[spoiler:Ben has read his notebook]]. [[InsaneTrollLogic Wait, what?]]

** [[spoiler:Even after Socrates dies, Ratman is still largely concerned with using the rats to make ends meet and puts his plan for vengeance on the backburner for a while]]
** [[spoiler: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.]]

* {{Meganekko}}: Eve in ''Ben''.

* [[ClingyJealousGirl Clingy Jealous Mouse]]: Ben is jealous of Willard's love for Socrates.

* {{Diary}}: The notebooks of the title.

** Ben seems to form a legitimate bond with IllChild Danny in the sequel.

** [[spoiler: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]]

* LeFilmArtistique: Parodied in Crisper Glover's music video "Ben", complete with women getting sexually aroused by mice, a lesbian headmistress and various German dictators, including UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler.

* NoNameGiven: In the novel, '''everybody''' except Jones, Ben, Socrates, Major Robinson, the Malcomsons, and three dogs. Averted in both film adaptations.

** In the films, Willard himself, due to being a depressed man with no friends that the viewer is more liable to pity than hate.

** In the films, Willard himself, due to being an UnluckyEveryman that the viewer is more liable to pity than hate.

It is perhaps best remembered for its two movie adaptations, both called ''Willard''. The first was made in 1971 and starred Bruce Davison and Creator/ErnestBorgnine. The second, made in 2003, starred Creator/CrispinGlover and Creator/RLeeErmey. The 1971 movie also had a sequel, ''Ben'', released in 1972. The Music/MichaelJackson song of the same name was written for this movie and plays over the end credits.

* ItCanThink: [[spoiler: Ben's intellect has varied from each adaptation but the main theme is that he's smarter than the other rats and takes control of the abused colony after the protagonist abandons them. In the novel; Ben somehow learned how to read and took control of the colony to kill Ratman out of revenge for getting one of the rats killed during Ratman's crime spree.]]

* PosthumousCharacter: Mr. Stiles in the 2003 movie due to a subplot about his having committed suicide long ago.

* AntiVillain: Ben is suggested to be one; he was initially following Ratman/Willard's commands until he decided to take over the rat colony because the protagonist was endangering the colony and got one of their members killed during one of his outings. In the 2003 film; this is a bit more ambiguous because Ben was disobedient from the beginning, the death of Scully the cat was [[PredationIsNatural for the sake of food]] and so [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority Ben can prove himself as a new leader of the colony]].

* AntiVillain: Ben is suggested to be one; he was initially following Ratman/Willard's commands until he decided to take over the rat colony because the protagonist was endangering the colony and got one of their members killed during one of his outings. In the 2003 film, this is a bit more ambiguous because Ben was disobedient from the beginning and the death of Scully the cat may have been [[PredationIsNatural done for the sake of food]] or so Ben [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority can prove himself as a new leader of the colony]].

* AntiVillain: Ben is suggested to be one; he was initially following Ratman/Willard's commands until he decided to take over the rat colony because the protagonist was endangering the colony and got one of their members killed during one of his outings. In the 2003 film, this a bit more ambiguous because Ben was disobedient from the beginning and the death of Scully the cat may have been [[PredationIsNatural done for the sake of food]] or [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority to prove himself as a new leader of the colony]].