Ben

Dovetailing with the original (Willard, 1971) the crowd outside the house where the title character was killed by rats includes the Garrisons (Lee Harcourt Montgomery, Meredith Baxter and Rosemary Murphy), while the cop (Joseph Campanella) and editor (Arthur O’Connell) tangle inside, in the sequel Ben, 1972.

Looking to determine how the pack of killer rats are getting around, LA cop Kirtland (Joseph Campanella) finds veteran character actor Kenneth Tobey as the engineer in charge of the sewers, while the gang finds its way into a spa, in Ben, 1972, sequel to Willard, 1971.

The day after the fatal rat attack up the street, bookish Eve (young Meredith Baxter, later Birney) and frail little brother Danny (Lee Harcourt Montgomery) joust, until their widowed mother (Rosemary Murphy) returns home, worried, in Ben, 1972, sequel to Willard, 1971.

Certainly a SPOILER, and the element for-which this film, (Ben, 1972, sequel to Willard, 1971) is actually best known, Danny (Lee Harcourt Montgomery) finding his friend not-dead, and 13-year old Michael Jackson delivering his first solo #1 hit, by Walter Scharf and Don Black.

Following the surprise box office success of the rat-thriller Willard, in 1971, this was the TV trailer for the quickly produced sequel, in which the title character was not a human, but a rat, in Ben, 1972, starring Lee Harcourt Montgomery, Meredith Baxter and Joseph Campanella.

Young Danny (Lee Harcourt Montgomery), who has a heart condition, and spends lots of time alone in his “work room,” doesn’t know that his new rat friend (title character!) orchestrated the murder of his previous human host, in Ben, 1972, sequel to Willard, 1971.

A stand-alone incident, as the title (rat!) character leads his band to attack a grocery truck driver (Bern Hoffman), who is rightly panicked, then the crusty local newsman (Arthur O’Connell), spectators, and cops (Kaz Garas, Joseph Campanella) try to process things, in Ben, 1972, sequel to Willard, 1971.