Audience Member
Welcome to willits 13.2.21 3.2/0.
Amusing but tosh. Inconsistencies. You could have cut it in half, the film that is, and still got the idea across. D.B.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
02/24/23
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adam b
Some fun stuff here with some really bizarrely funny scenes but fell apart in the the final act
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
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Audience Member
I really didn't know what to expect from this movie. I saw the "comedy" and "horror" tags, a combination of genres I've enjoyed in the past, and tonight I was in the mood for something new, so I gave it a try.
As far as comedy goes, this wont leave you laughing out loud too often - but the dialogue made me smile or chuckle quite a few times. When the humor hits right, it's dry and quirky.
The horror bit actually kept me guessing through maybe two-thirds of the film. I was trying to figure out whether this was a monster / alien film, and how much of what was going to be hinted at were clues or misdirection. Needless to say, I hadn't researched "Willits" at all - which is part of what I enjoyed: discovering what was really going on.
I thought the concept wasn't terribly original, but the acting and some creative playing-with the-audience's-mind is what made this memorable. I've seen some criticism from folks who didn't like the way the film evolved, but for me, the evolution is part of its charm.
No, this wasn't going to win academy awards, but it's much better than I was expecting, and I've filed it away mentally something I'd recommend to the right kind of friends.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/12/23
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Audience Member
Goofy, gory mess of a movie.
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
07/05/18
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Audience Member
It was funny better than star weed
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/23/23
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jesse o
I've mentioned this a few times, but I'm not a superstitious man. I don't believe in a higher power (and I doubt I ever will) and I'm not necessarily that into ghosts either. I mean, the latter certainly makes for an interesting video on YouTube, if you're into that shit (which I am). I'm not as 100% steadfast in my belief that there are no ghosts as I am in my belief that there's no higher power that created all of this. I still don't believe, but you could make the argument that I'm more open-minded about the existence of ghosts. Having said that, there's a third element that comes into this and that is the existence of aliens. Now that is an entirely different story. I'll just get this out of the way, I'm not one of those conspiracy theorists that believes the government has had knowledge of the existence of aliens for decades, maybe even centuries, and just kept that information hidden from the populous. I'm not one of those guys, because I find that idea, honestly, a little preposterous. What I am saying is the fact that it's very arrogant to believe that we're the only sentient being to have ever existed in the history of the universe. The fact that we've only explored something like 4% (yes, you read that right) of the observable universe means that there's something like (and this is an estimate) 100 billion galaxies out there. And that's just from the 4% that we can observe. And of those 100 billion galaxies, who knows how life has developed in those galaxies, if there is life. I mean, chances are incredibly high that, in fact, we're not the only form of intelligent being to have existed. It's just that the technology is not there for us to travel to other galaxies to check for ourselves. I suppose that's not really important. What I am saying is that, yes, I'm fairly certain that there's some other life form out there other than ourselves. I'm not calling them aliens or anything of the sort, because, again, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, I'm just looking at this like a rational human being. Having said that, this brings us to this flick. For it to have inspired that little diatribe, I guess it must have done something right. I've always been a champion of horror movies trying something different, even if their framing might be familiar. You can add new twists and wrinkles to something that you're familiar with. And I feel that that's what this movie does and I genuinely like the execution of those ideas. So, basically, it's not what you would call a normal 'alien' invasion movie. So there's this drug manufacturer that ends up cooking a particularly potent batch of meth that makes him (and his girlfriend, who's also an addict) able to see human beings as aliens. Given the fact that literally everyone they see is an alien, Brock and Peggy (his girlfriend) feel that earth is under invasion. Of course, given this, Brock and Peggy then take it into their hands to remove as many aliens from this earth as humanly possible. And, you know what, I actually really did like that concept. There's something to the fact that people, who are into hallucinogenic drugs, are more apt to believe in aliens. Not saying that they're all murderous maniacs, like Brock is in this movie, but there's something to that theory. What I like about the movie is that it mixes in various genres with sci-fi, slasher and stoner comedy all rolled up into one. Because of that mix, in spite of the movie never really coming together as well as I think its ideas might have suggested, has its own identity. It's not that this is the most unique movie you've ever seen, but the movie manages to carve out its own path. The slasher part comes with these teens who go camping in the woods (what a surprise), who then start getting killed off. And, obviously, the movie is very drug heavy, so therein comes the stoner shit. I suppose if I have to point out a negative is that there's a big chunk of the movie where it feels like nothing is really happening. Like the teens find their way to the woods, near Brock's weed farm, where they decide to camp for the night to find these hot springs the day after. So they arrive and they put their tents up and shit and...nothing. There's a big part of the film where everything is just static. Nothing really move forwards. The teens camping, if they're really teens, and then they just go around in circle with Possum's character. He talks about conspiracy theories and shit like that. Brock and Peggy, who have tied up Brock's niece in the closet for fear that she's in league with the aliens, start acting paranoid and they act paranoid without, again, really doing anything. Brock's entire personality was about being paranoid and suspecting everyone, even his own niece and later his girlfriend, of working with the aliens, but at least later on that paranoia drove the narrative forward. In these scenes where it's just Peggy and Brock at the house, that paranoia just leads them in circles, same as the segments with the group of teens, prior to shit really hitting the fan. And that's, really, why I gave the movie this rating. I felt that the pacing could have definitely used a little tightening, because this really isn't that long to begin with. It's something like 81 minutes without credits and sometimes it just feels slightly longer than that. As far as the horror is concerned, it's not like it's any great shakes, but they do a very good job at sort of transitioning Brock as this crazy, but relatively harmless pot farmer into someone fearful by the film's end. And a lot of that has to do with Bill Sage's great performance. He guides this man through this journey and you see as how, little by little, the ties that bound him to this earth are stripped away and he just becomes a mania that even kills his own girlfriend, by curb stomping her. Which, if you're gonna choose to kill someone you supposedly love, that's probably the most fucked up way to do so. Brock's journey is compounded by his own guilt through this fake show called Fists of Justice (starring Dolph Lundgren), as there are moments where he has flashbacks (I guess) to when he was abducted and he sees scenes from this show and they all relate to him and what he's done. Say what you will about this movie, but Brock is a very well-written character, at least I thought he was. Though, again, that might just be Bill Sage's performance, who knows? I don't really know what else to say about this. It's definitely not perfect, or even technically good, but there's a lot of cool ideas here and some mix and matching of different genres that works quite well. Some pacing issues definitely held this back, in my opinion, but if you're a horror nerd, then I'm sure you'll find something to appreciate here.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
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