Willard

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Jolin S If you’re a horror movie fan this is an okay film to watch. It’s not the type of movie you want to watch over and over like top notch horror movies. You should watch it and make your own opinion. Like I said it’s worth watching but I don’t think you would want it in your collection unless you can find it priced under $5.00. Good luck and I hope you enjoy it. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 11/13/24 Full Review Jacob B I didn't really like this movie all that much. I do sometimes watch movies more out of a sense of obligation rather than because I genuinely wanted to see them but that doesn't mean I can't still enjoy the film along the way. In this case, it was very much a movie I had to watch just so that I could eventually get to the film adaptations of a novel called Ratman's Notebooks that people actually talk about; the direct sequel called Ben with the Michael Jackson song and the 2003 remake which was worked on by X-Files writers. But anyway, the 1971 film adaptation is rather dull with the "killer rats" premise not even entering the picture until the climax. From what I understand, this was true to the source material where the book was mostly satirical up until this point but not everything that works in one medium translates well to another, since I didn't get the vibe that anything was presented satirically at all. For me, it was clearly meant to be taken at face value. And even then, that premise is woefully anticlimactic for reasons I won't spoil. The synopsis has done enough of a bang-up job on that front as it is. It's a shame really because the actors are clearly trying, the rats are well-trained with the film doing a good job making them look cute and the titular character is sympathetic...except for the part where he hands over an adorable cat to a stranger but at least there's a pragmatic purpose for that and at least he didn't cruelly abandon it in the middle of the road. Yeah, I'm a bit sensitive about that kind of thing. Must've watched too many videos from The Dodo. But for the most part, Willard is a rather mundane film about a guy and his secret pet rats having to deal with relatable problems like being denied a promotion from his boss and not wanting to sell his house. Were it not an adaptation of preexisting source material, I'd question why they even added the horror angle at all other than to make the film more marketable. Just goes to show that some movies really can benefit from a remake and 1971's Willard is apparently no exception. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 11/09/24 Full Review Dave S Life isn’t easy for young Willard (Bruce Davison). On top of being an introverted loner, he has his hands full with an overbearing boss, a mother who continually harangues him, a job that he can’t seem to handle, and serious financial problems related to his home. Oh, yeah…and his best friend is a rat named Socrates. To settle some scores, the troubled protagonist trains Socrates and his countless herd of vermin to do his bidding. While Davison gives an appropriately unhinged performance, the movie falters as the result of some highly implausible scenarios (rats who seem to fly when attacking, for example), a bright color palette that doesn’t match the atmosphere, and a wildly inappropriate music score that sounds like it was lifted from a ‘50s sitcom. This is a slow burn of a movie and the climax, unfortunately, doesn’t pay much in the way of dividends. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 11/04/24 Full Review Marsh m Love it and I cried when socrates died Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/01/24 Full Review Tim M Willard tears its way into a pretty devious horror tale, but ultimately has not the technical finesse to get away with the cheese. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 07/19/24 Full Review Wayne K Within about 20 minutes of watching Williard I thought to myself ‘Haven’t I seen this kind of thing before?’ The concept of humans befriending animals and forming a bizarre and even dangerous bond with them was a concept that provided fertile ground for countess B-movie makers. Our lead is a man who, dissatisfied with his life and browbeaten by everyone around him, finds solace in a rapidly expanding colony of rats that live below his mother’s house. I’m sure I’d seen a film before that was literally title ‘Rats’ that had many similar elements. Willard itself it like a monster movie crossed with Psycho. It tries to delve into the psychology of a perpetually under the thumb individual who slowly loses his mind, but it also wants to throw in lots of silly antics involved his pets, which are mostly played for comic effect. Sadly, the film never leans heavily enough into either of these areas to establish an actual tone, and as a result many of the scenes just feeling awkward and strange, a fact that isn’t helped by the editing. It’s billed as a horror film, but I can only see it being scary or shocking to musophobics. It apparently triggered an entire spate of animal-centric horror films, many of which I’m sure are more enjoyable than this one. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 05/13/24 Full Review Read all reviews

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