I went into "Willard" expecting a bite-sized, somewhat stale chunk of cheese. I am a card-carrying Crispin Glover fanatic and will sit through just about anything to savor one of his idiosyncratic performances, and I expected nothing more than some kooky Crispin action from this film. "Willard," however, is solid and unexpectedly chilling.
When the word "remake" comes into a conversation, the word "disaster" usually follows shortly thereafter, but the original 1971 "Willard" is done no injustice here. This film is loyal to the original and even connects to it directly by having actor Bruce Davison (the original Willard) stand in as Willard's beloved, deceased father.
The plot follows the original very closely, as unstable Willard (Glover) takes care of his sickly, widowed mother (Jackie Burroughs) and works at a soul-sucking job with an equally soul-sucking boss, Mr. Martin (R. Lee Ermey).
He befriends the rats that infest his basement, particularly one little guy named Socrates. The largest rat, Ben, regards this friendship jealously as Willard trains the rats to attack and do deeds he's too afraid to do himself, swerving in and out of sanity in the process.
In addition to the rat mayhem, this is a masterful portrait of a total coward and emotional wreck. Willard's outbursts and searing insecurities are brilliantly conveyed.
A thousand blessings upon the genius who cast Crispin Hellion Glover in the lead. He hasn't gotten this kind of exposure since the 80s and his remarkable character-acting prowess shows what an injustice this is.
Here's hoping "Willard" is a hit and leads to more major roles for him. Hopefully, he won't go down in history simply as the "Hey you! Get your damn hands off her!" guy from "Back to the Future."
The rest of the cast is right up there with him. R. Lee Ermey is perfectly evil as his sadistic boss, making a lot of noise and getting his comeuppance most gruesomely.
"Willard" will have to take out a second mortgage to pay off the debt it owes to Hitchcock. And I mean that in the kindest way.
There are several scenes that Hitch himself would be proud to say he orchestrated, from the elaborate set-ups for rat attacks to the great use of close-ups and simple montage to build suspense.
There is a good deal of humor on display here, but it's subdued and always kept in check by Glover's overarching creepiness. The viewer often doesn't know whether to laugh or grimace.
The film's director, the talented Glen Morgan of "X-Files" fame, even throws in an in-joke here and there, such as a doomed cat by the name of Scully.
Never underestimate the value of keeping a viewer off-balance. This film does a superb job of it and it doesn't shy away from the nastier aspects.
Which is not to say it's perfect. There are a couple scenes that use computer graphics excessively and obviously, derailing involvement for a brief period. The "Psycho"-esque ending is a letdown, too. It just doesn't ring true.
There are some swiss cheese-sized holes in the plot here and there as well. One minor one may aggravate some viewers more than others. When Willard is under siege from the vengeful rodents near the end, he tries every window in the house to escape, but why on Earth doesn't he run out the front door?
There also are a couple brief but sadistic scenes involving the death and/or torture of a dog and cat. These are probably the most shocking parts in the film, since it's a lot easier to see evil humans get the bite put on them than innocent animals.
Overall, this is a very solid horror film, and it is extremely well mounted.
In fact, it's so solid, it's probably too good for its PG-13 target audience. The crowd I saw this with was disproportionately young, loud and restless. This is not a nonstop action film and it's not afraid of being quiet and deliberately paced to build tension and character.
The young audience, perhaps narcotized into a split-second attention span and total lack of taste by endless hours of "Survivor" and ultraviolent video games, just didn't have the patience for this film and made a lot of noise during the quiet spells. So if it's loud and obnoxious you want, this ain't the place for it. But if it's quirky, unique, off the beaten path, and yes, a bit slow, this is the right dark hole to crawl into for a couple hours.
"Willard" caught me in its mousetrap from the very first scene and I didn't even try to escape it because the cheese it lured me in with proved to be gourmet quality.
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