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- The unserious but seriously played drama in this horror-comedy is paced quickly, revels in its violence, and showcases Nicolas Cage's "rage" in notably fun and playful ways. While it's not a great movie by any means, Willy's Wonderland takes advantage of a novel concept and delivers straightforward, goofy, gory action.
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Feb 13, 2021 · Directed by Kevin Lewis, from a script by G.O. Parsons, this defiantly out-of-the-box and in some ways rather cunning grunge horror film, set from dusk till dawn inside a run-down family fun...
- One Night at Willy's.
- Horror Movies That Should Be Video Games
- Verdict
By Matt Fowler
Updated: Nov 3, 2022 8:35 pm
Posted: Feb 12, 2021 6:30 pm
Willy's Wonderland releases on VOD, and in select theaters, on Friday, February 12.
Sprinting to our screens ahead of the live-action Five Nights at Freddy's movie, which is still bouncing around in development, is Nicolas Cage battling evil, murderous animatronics in Willy's Wonderland - an earnest-yet-crudely executed low-budget horror flick about a drifter who gets trapped inside a haunted Chuck E. Cheese-style pizzeria and left to die at the claws of a robotic weasel and its malicious minions.
Willy's Wonderland, like the Chuck E. Cheese chain, is cheaply presented and goes for easy, low-hanging thrills. It's not pretty to look at and it's edited sort of clumsily, in hyperkinetic ways meant to distract from some of the shoddiness, but the bare bones of this film are surprisingly strong. No, "Nic Cage battling killer party puppets" isn't enough of a gimmick to carry an entire film, and Willy's Wonderland does strain a bit to fill its already short runtime, but it's enough for this type of small production. It's sufficient to make for a sort of overlong standalone X-Files episode.
As much as the movie would love to be 90 minutes of Cage quietly glowering at menacing machines, it can't be, so other characters roll in to both add to the bloodshed and also fill out the Willy lore. Emily Tosta's Liv, along with her circle of soon-to-be-butchered friends, is hellbent on ending the terror that Willy's inflicts on others. She's sort of a lone crusader in Hayesville, willing to stand up to Willy and his horde, and she forms an alliance with Cage's Janitor. Though due to the Janitor's oddball habits and enigmatic work regimen (which, again, we don't really get closure on) it's a strained connection. It's clear, however, that she's drawn to him as an outsider since that's how she feels herself.
Beth Grant, Ric Reitz, and Chris Warner fill out the adult roles here as secretive and shifty members of Hayesville who have devious designs for Cage's lone wolf. It's all rather splattery and silly but tonally it works and everyone squeezes out a solid small-scale performance. Unfortunately, there are moments, particularly with Cage's character, where you want a few more answers, and for the story to stretch its legs a little more, but Willy's Wonderland is kind of an "as-is" slaughterfest.
Willy's Wonderland is a no-frills splatterfest that, while straining to fill its runtime, finds mid-level chills and thrills thanks to Nic Cage bashing the hell out of weaponized pizza parlor characters. It's a shoestring slasher that gets the job done while also not fully rounding a few of the corners it teases.
Feb 12, 2021 · After an interminable set-up, “Willy’s Wonderland” does get to the good stuff for about 40 minutes or so. That consists of Liv’s friends getting sliced up by animatronic creatures that look like they were designed in 1978 and then getting torn apart themselves by Cage’s brutal drifter.
Feb 12, 2021 · Willy's Wonderland isn't quite as much fun as its premise would suggest -- but it's still got Nicolas Cage beating the hell out of bloodthirsty animatronics, which is nice. Read Critics...
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- Nicolas Cage
- Kevin Lewis
- Saturn Films
Feb 18, 2021 · 'Nic Cage is into reptiles...': The insane, behind-the-scenes story of Willy's Wonderland. How an unknown actor and a luckless director teamed with Nicolas Cage to create 2021's first cult movie.
Jun 22, 2016 · No critics, just fans. It's outlandish, it's a parody of everything you've ever witnessed and it's absolutely incredible! Here's our Willy's Wonderland review!
Parents need to know that Willy's Wonderland is an action-horror comedy starring Nicolas Cage. He plays a man who gets stranded in a small town and needs to work off his needed car repairs.
