Review of Willard (2003) by Drew S — 21 Mar 2011

Probably only works as a horror if you're scared of rats. I don't find them particularly menacing, even as a squirming, darkly-lit, devouring mass. Willard's a clever film, though, and it's buoyed by a reliably demented performance by Crispin Glover. Fevered, desperate and lonely, it's like he wears his neuroses on his face and no one has the capacity to see them. When things fall apart, it's especially rewarding for the viewer to have been aware of this precariously unbalanced man all along; the events of the end are a surprise to everyone but us.

This dissolution, again, isn't particularly frightening. With Glover and R. Lee Ermey's performances, as well as some absolutely bonkers set pieces (the cat), the ridiculousness of the film is turned up to a dull hum, and its flourishes of black comedy feel like the parts it's most comfortable with. One could probably chalk this vague disappointment up to mismarketing, in the vein of Bug, but I felt as I watched Willard that it was legitimately trying for horror. It can be squicky and uncomfortable at times, but horrific? Barely.