Cheap Willard (DVD) (Crispin Glover, R. Lee Ermey, Laura Harring) (Glen Morgan) Price

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Customer Reviews of Willard

Willard has a go-nowhere job at Martin-Stiles Manufacturing, which was co-founded by his now-deceased father. The company is now run by its tyrant co-founder Frank Martin, played by R. Lee Ermey (Full Metal Jacket). As the story unfolds, we learn that Martin bought out the shares of the elder Mr. Stiles, who, for reasons that aren't fully explained, later committed suicide. As a part of the contract, Willard was promised a job for life. Predictably, though, as soon as Willard's mother dies, Martin fires him. At that point, Willard completely loses his mind and the real action begins.

In the beginning, the film is a little hard to get into because the premise of the movie is, well, preposterous. As the film opens, Willard is seen trying to exterminate a white rat that he found living in his basement. Willard has second thoughts about killing him, though, so he befriends the little guy and names him "Socrates." He then begins to train thousands of Socrates' cohorts (including the nearly dog-sized "Ben") to do all kinds of neat tricks, like climbing into briefcases and chewing things on command. In what seems like just a few minutes, the rats have become a well-trained army of furry little soldiers, ready and willing to do whatever Willard asks. As a viewer, you're left wondering why the rats suddenly agree to submit to Willard's control. But Glover really sells it and, later on at least, it doesn't seem so unbelievable.

The acting is surprisingly good for a genre film. Glover's performance is excellent throughout. Many people probably remember him from his role as George McFly in Back to the Future. He doesn't stray too far from the McFly persona in Willard, but it still works: he is totally believable as the crazy Willard. Ermey is also effective, but perhaps a little too over-the-top, as Willard's abusive boss. Ermey is probably best known as the former real-life Marine who played the drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket, a role that he has played (unintentionally at times) in about a hundred other movies since then. He essentially reprises his part in FMJ here; in fact, through the whole movie, you're half expecting him to call Willard a "panty waste" or something.

Despite a few shortcomings here and there, Willard is an effective and enjoyable film. A warning is in order, though: this movie is not for the squeamish and definitely not for children. In fact, some of it is downright painful to watch. The violence inflicted on animals in a couple of scenes is pretty harsh, even for hardened horror-film fans. But if you enjoy a good psychological thriller, you'll like Willard.

Three and a half out of five stars.

Surprisingly Effective Movie
"Willard" tells the story of a 30-something misfit, played by Crispin Glover. Willard is stuck in a dead-end job that he hates, and he has to care for his elderly mother who constantly belittles him. His life is miserable, until he finds a white rat dwelling in the basement of his Byzantine home. He befriends the rat and dubs him Socrates, and to his amazement he finds his basement flooded with other rats who listen to him. However, a fat rat named Ben comes onto the scene and changes everything.

A remake of the 1971 movie, the plot of "Willard" is completely inane but somehow manages to work. Glover brings an unbelievable amount of likeability to his role, which helps build sympathy for his character. R. Lee Ermey is also very good as Willard's exceptionally vile boss who eventually gets his just desserts. Of interest, the pictures of Glover's father that are seen throughout the house are actor Bruce Davison, who played Willard in the original movie.

Debut director Glen Morgan (writer of "Final Destination) employs a rather flashy style that helps "Willard" rise above similar B-movies. The movie also features some much appreciated humor, notably in a scene involving the song "Ben" by Michael Jackson. However, if you watch this movie expecting an explicit horror movie, then you may be a bit disappointed at the relatively gore-free first hour of the movie. Nevertheless, some of the later scenes are more graphic, and "Willard" is ultimately a surprisingly enjoyable movie.

Extras: The DVD is packed with extras. 1) An interesting commentary track featuring the director and Crispin Glover. 2) A 17 minute documentary called "Rat People," which features interviews with people who keep rats for pets. Narrated by Bruce Davison, the documentary features profiles of the rat fans interspersed with hilarious interviews with an exterminator and other rat-haters. 3) A video of Crispin Glover's remake of the song "Ben," which is hilarious. 4) A dozen deleted scenes, some of which show more graphic alternatives.

It's a Shame 0 Stars Isn't an Option
Ok, there was some bad films last year. Charlie's Angels 2, House of 1000 Corpses, and Gothika. But no movie was as bad Willard. You could say that this movie is at the bottom of the barrel, but really it doesn't even deserve to be mentioned in the same sentences with barrels. It's such a worthless and pathetic film that theres no wonder Saddam Hussein hated us, he probably saw this movie. The film stars Chrispen Glover, a low beat employee stuck at the same dead end job owned by this rich guy who he happens to hate. One night he hears rats, and like any other loser he becomes Friends with them and teaches them to kill people. Then he's shocked when he finds his mom lying in the stair way dead with rats crawling all over her. So he decides to kill his boss because his boss killed his favorite rat. This movie may not resemble the style of horror film that you're used to. For example when the rats take over he's looking at one and it bites him in the eye and blood squirts out. Or when he's looking over his moms casket and snoot squirts out of his nose. The movies awful, sick, disgusting, and just plain awful. There is no way that I would ever recommend this film to anyone. It is by far the worst film that I have ever seen, if you see this and like it check your self into a mental institution because you have serious problems.