Review of Willard. Many thanks to: Tom Owen.

Crispin Glover plays the apprehensive and almost freakishly shy Willard Stiles. Willard lives his miserable days working behind a desk at his dead father’s company where he is constantly humiliated by his boss Mr. Martin, and at home he is smothered by the needs and demands of his dying mother smashing his hopes of having any social existence. Willard’s luck is about to change though when some unexpected guests arrive in his basement. At the orders of his mother Willard is sent downstairs to get rid of the rats that have been infesting their house. The rats are too clever for Willard though and after some unsuccessful attempts at trapping them, he instead ends up making an unusual connection with a small white rat he names Socrates. Willard takes Socrates in as the only friend he’s ever had and seems to get lost in his affection, so much so that he doesn’t even notice the interest of a new female co-worker. What she sees in the obviously disturbed Willard is beyond me though.

All the while Willard’s basement is becoming overcrowded with the arrival of more and more "friends", of whom Willard finds he can communicate with and use to do his bidding’s queue the line "tear it up". Willard takes his army to seek revenge on his boss by having them chew up the tires on his car. Among the rats in this army is the frighteningly huge "Big Ben" who delivers both on the comedy and the horror sides of things. Soon Ben becomes jealous of the bond Willard shares with Socrates and starts to become a menace, taking charge of the rats and using them against Willard. Now things start to spiral out of control. Willard’s mother dies, he’s fired from his job, and his house is overrun with rats, and their droppings. After using his rats for one more act of ultimate revenge, Willard loses his reign over them and has to get rid of the rats before they do so to him.

During the movie Willard’Äôs character is painted in such a way that we feel sympathetic towards him despite his totally abnormal behavior and friends. Crispin Glover does an amazing job expressing Willard’Äôs creepy antisocial undertones while still letting the tenderness and kind regard of the character bleed through. Glover’s pale complexion and almost gothic like look lend themselves perfectly to the dreary backgrounds and settings found in Willard. The rest of the cast is great too; with R. Lee Ermey taking charge as Willard’Äôs boss and Jackie Burroughs was the perfect creepy old lady as Willard’Äôs mother.

I wasn’t sure exactly what to make of Willard as a whole though, at times it was funny, at times it was scary, and at times it was a thriller; Willard never really laid claim to any certain tone. I don’t think that really hindered the quality of the film though, as everything flowed together to form a totally out of the ordinary good time. Weather it was the cat being let into the house only find thousands of rats waiting for him, the constant uncomfortable quirkiness of Willard’s character, or the brutal revenge unleashed by Willard’s army, everything really came together in the end.

The special effects were amazing, and you could tell director Glen Morgan really took the time to make sure he didn’t spoil his movie with sub-par imagery. The rats were a combination of CGI, animatronics, and live animals that combined for a totally believable onslaught of rats and their droppings.

Glen Morgan took the themes of the 1971 original Willard, and added his own stylish touch making a truly unique and enjoyable movie. Although this movie isn’t for everybody, especially cat lovers and those with a phobia of small furry rodents, it’s a great stylish film with a lot more depth than might be expected. Also make sure you head over to the official site and watch the music version video of "Ben", directed and sung my none other than Crispin Glover.. so amazing.