Willard
Desperate for companionship, the repressed Willard forges an unlikely alliance with a colony of rats that inhabit his late father's decaying mansion. Within these furry companions, Willard finds a fragile refuge from the daily abuse he endures at the hands of his bedridden mother and his father's former partner, Frank. It soon becomes clear that the brood of rodents is prepared to unleash vicious, deadly revenge on anyone who dares to bully their sensitive new master.
Director(s)
Glen Morgan
Christine Lalande
Helga Ungurait
H.H. Cooper
Cast & Crew
Details
Reviews
Niko
Reviewing a remake, one can't help but compare it to the original film - in this case "Willard (1971)". While the overarching plot has been changed very little, the remake takes some creative liberties with parts of the story, some for the better and some for the worse. The titular character Willard has been altered to a point where he is almost a caricature of his former self. This in itself is not necessarily a bad thing, depending on what you want from this movie. It does however change the direction and gives the film a less serious and more comedic tone. I will say that the acting is pretty decent regardless. The changes to the rats, Ben in particular, were pretty good. I enjoyed the fact that he had a bit more personality. He was also substantially larger than the others, giving him a more unique appearance. I was however not a fan of the changes made to the ending and it felt much cheaper and less impactful than the 1971 version. The "moral" that the original had was nowhere to be found and it also did not tie in with the 1972 sequel "Ben", which I thought was a bit of a shame. I also felt like Laura Harring's character was kind of wasted and had not enough screen time. Willard's whole family was missing from this film and so where unfortunately a lot of the deeper relationships between characters. The whole build-up with Willard taking his rats on "missions" was also limited to just two scenes that were not nearly as tense in the remake. That said, Willard is not a bad movie by any means. You might very well enjoy this film, even if you're a fan of the original.
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Willard FAQs
The directors of Willard are Glen Morgan, Christine Lalande, Helga Ungurait, and H.H. Cooper.
The cast of Willard includes Crispin Glover as Willard Stiles, Laura Harring as Cathryn, R. Lee Ermey as Mr. Martin, Ashlyn Gere as Ms. Leach, William S. Taylor as Mr. Garter, Ty Olsson as Officer Salmon, Kristen Cloke as Psychiatrist (uncredited), Jackie Burroughs as Mrs. Stiles, David Parker as Detective Boxer, Laara Sadiq as Janice Mantis, and Gus Lynch as George Foxx.
The duration of Willard is 1h 40 mins.
Yes. You can watch the Willard trailer on this Fanbiz page on Fanziz.
Willard was released on 14 Mar 2003.
Willard is listed under Horror, Drama, and Thriller on Fanbiz.
Willard has 1 review on Fanziz, with an average rating of 6.0/10. One reviewer wrote: "Reviewing a remake, one can't help but compare it to the original film - in this case "Willard (1971)". While the overarching plot has been changed very little, the remake takes..."
