Willard

Starring: Crispin Glover, R. Lee Ermey, Laura Elena Harring, and Jackie Burroughs
Directed by: Glen Morgan
Crispin's musical production of "Ben" Here Realplayer or QuickTime
Crispin Glover Interview Here

Willard is a bonifide willy inducing creepfest extravaganza folks! Complete with rats, ravings, and revenge. Yummy! And why shouldn't it be? In a stroke of kismet alliance 'tween heaven and Earth, the filmmakers cast the purrfect "Willard," to inhabit the Hamletesque fellow, one Crispin H. Glover.

Like most of the viewers I too was skeptical they could pull off revamping the quirky masterpiece of kitsch. Fear not anti-musophobics the Willard of the new millennium exceeds expectations.

Story goes…Willard Stiles (Crispin, "Hey, you wanna see my antique wax eyeball collection? No. Okay. How about catching the Beatle film fest down the road?" Glover) has a sad little life. His father (seen only as a stern oil painting of Bruce Davidson - the 1971 version of Willard), though dead as a doorstop, still affects Wil's life via a trunk-full of tortured memories. And saddy cakes Willard isn't much better off with the mom part of the parental unit. In fact his loving mom (Jackie Burroughs) is yet another cerebral section of hell for the guy. She makes Betty Davis' "Baby Jane" look like a delicate debutante dressed for a dandy. The output of this lifestyle has turned Willard into an introvert with neurotic ticks and an immediate aura of having the emotional subtly of a human Mt. Vesuvius.

As fate would have it the friendless Willard, thanks to seeing to his frail one-foot-from-the-grave- mother's whims regarding a possible "rat" infestation, saunters down to the cellar and eventually befriends a little white rat he names, Socrates. Through Socrates he meets big bad Ben; the kangaroo of rats. Ben's a jealous sort that's instantly smitten with Willard though Willard's heart belongs to another...it's getting weirder by the nanosecond kids. But Willard's just happy to have a friend...

Yes, his home life at Casa d' Ratello is getting sweeter but alas he still heads off to work with his personal Edward Gorey styled cloud of doom looming above.

For Willard work is just another plateau of misery. His boss (R. Lee Ermey) sadistically belittles him every opportunity he can and his coworkers don't seem to care to let him join in any of their reindeer games. Well except Cathryn (Laura Elena Harring). She's new and tries to no avail to befriend the slipping bloke.

You're starting to wonder why Willard even bothers…just sip some lye and be done dear boy. But thanks to Socrates and his hordes of pals in cellar, Willard's wacky world is about to change. Not necessarily for the better but… it's now definitely getting supercreepioupolis around the Stiles homestead…that's all I'm sayin'!

Crispin who's as adorable as he is aberrant is Willard in this film. He always serves up a heaping helping of odd man out. I bet he's really a SUV driving, latte sipping, Gap™ wearing, Must See TV© type of regular Joe just disguised as a brilliant nonconformist - NAH! Bottom line, Crispin makes the film because director Glen Morgan lets him release that glorious inner ability he has to simply morph with a glance from the innocent lamb you want to coddle into a maniacal smirker with homicidal tendencies. And even though "Willard" basically has rats eat his enemies, Glover always keeps the guy likable. That's no easy feat folks. Sure Crispin's the type of guy that makes a gal wanna play doctor on stainless steel equipment...I mean look at him he's a piñata of pure yum! But underneath the shallow girly girl crush, I recognize his enormous…. talent.

Famous as the seducer vixen in Lynch's Mulholland Drive Laura Elena Harring plays Willard's only human pal, Cathryn. Harring is a tremendous beauty even in starch rat infested surroundings.

The big bad boss, Frank Martin, as portrayed by R. Lee Ermey is a scene-stealer; just hilarious.

With Willard's enormous old school style, still-refreshing concept and diabolical performance by our finest eccentric esoteric dna swab, Cripin H. Glover, the film is actually beautiful. And over all Willard is just, for lack of a better adjective, creepy. It's fun-o-rama central kiddies!

If you have an issue with hundreds of rats frolicking about? Um, probably not a real good idea to see this immediately - go get Crispin Glover's "Rat Catching" book and ease into the whole idea of rodents crawlalloverious. Apparently the book is set in that happy go lucky time of dungeons and plagues. But I digress...

If you're a sci-fi fantasy horror lover that digs macabre sets and wacky scenarios…then what are you still doing here? Get going!

Snack Recommendation: Peanut butter on rice crispin treats.