*hug* Don't worry sweetie, you're not the only one who sleeps with a stuffed animal. Luckily, Snowball's (shut up, I got him when I was seven) nose cannot fall out for it is made of fur.
Okay. As promised, Willard, complete with backstory. Because you know I can never just say anything without three paragraphs of crap that only I care about first. =)
Back when Willard came out in, what, December? they advertised it online via popup ads that went BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! I'm sure I don't need to explain why I had a problem with this, as we've all had it happen - you're sitting in a silent room at midnight, innocently surfing and chatting with your friends, when quite suddenly a noisy popup ad goes off and takes five years from your life. Add in the fact that I was still recovering from The Ring, and what you had was me vociferously and repeatedly refusing to ever see the damn movie. (You probably remember this from attempting to change my mind, Crispin Glover fan that you are.)
Cut to a month ago, when I got my job at the Movie Gallery. There are several TVs in there, which play ads for the month's new releases on a loop. You can imagine how INSANE this drives us employees. October's included some stupid featurette for Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, the end result of which for me is a lingering desire to murder Cameron Diaz with toothpicks. That's not relevant, I just had to get it off my chest. Since Willard was one of October's releases, that was one of the ads we got to hear a dozen times a day, and it was easily the best ad on the tape. It had creepy footage of rats and Crispin Glover having questionable mental health, but instead of the standard horror movie music you might expect, there was this pretty, soothing song playing behind it. I thought it was hysterical, and loved the song even though I couldn't make out any of the words. And I continued to like the trailer, and even to look forward to it ("Oh, the Italian Job trailer. Yay, Willard is next!"). Within two weeks I had decided that I had to see the movie, even though it had been rented maybe seven times, and everyone who'd rented it said it sucked. In fact, this merely sweetened the deal, 'cos I love bad movies. Also? The cover art is lovely (it looks better in real life, but what';re you gonna do?). I had to wait if I wanted to get it for free, though, as employees can't get free rentals of a movie until it's been out for a month (unless they rent it before street date). So finally, a couple days ago, I grabbed a copy, but decided to wait until I had time in the morning to watch it. You know, just in case it was scary.
I had time to watch it yesterday morning, and as I settled in I said to myself, "After all this waiting, this had better be either really good and incredibly bad."
Try the former. Because, wow.
The reason why people hated it is explained right away, if you pay attention to the style of the opening credits. Willard is about a guy who discovers that he can control rats, and uses said discovery to take revenge on the people who have made his life hell. You read the summary on the back of the box, it sounds like a cheap, sleazy horror flick. The credits, however, tell a whole different story if you're sharp enough to catch it. They are cheesy stop motion and look a bit silly. They just scream, "Campy movie ahoy!", and immediately tipped me off to the fact that Willard was going to run contrary to my preconceived expectations. (. . . is that redundant?) If more people picked up on that, they'd have been better prepared to watch the movie differently.
But again, I was wrong. It starts out pretty camp, but at some point, while I wasn't paying attention, the campiness gradually disappeared and left me watching one hell of a psychological thriller and character study.
And on that note, I must once again cut myself short, this time because it's nearly dark and I'm riding home on a bicycle. I'd like to watch the movie again before I really get into the analysis anyway.
Which gives you even more time to rent it first. Do it. Do it do it do it. Uh, unless you're afraid of rats, because then you won't sleep for a month.
Okay. As promised, Willard, complete with backstory. Because you know I can never just say anything without three paragraphs of crap that only I care about first. =)
Back when Willard came out in, what, December? they advertised it online via popup ads that went BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! I'm sure I don't need to explain why I had a problem with this, as we've all had it happen - you're sitting in a silent room at midnight, innocently surfing and chatting with your friends, when quite suddenly a noisy popup ad goes off and takes five years from your life. Add in the fact that I was still recovering from The Ring, and what you had was me vociferously and repeatedly refusing to ever see the damn movie. (You probably remember this from attempting to change my mind, Crispin Glover fan that you are.)
Cut to a month ago, when I got my job at the Movie Gallery. There are several TVs in there, which play ads for the month's new releases on a loop. You can imagine how INSANE this drives us employees. October's included some stupid featurette for Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, the end result of which for me is a lingering desire to murder Cameron Diaz with toothpicks. That's not relevant, I just had to get it off my chest. Since Willard was one of October's releases, that was one of the ads we got to hear a dozen times a day, and it was easily the best ad on the tape. It had creepy footage of rats and Crispin Glover having questionable mental health, but instead of the standard horror movie music you might expect, there was this pretty, soothing song playing behind it. I thought it was hysterical, and loved the song even though I couldn't make out any of the words. And I continued to like the trailer, and even to look forward to it ("Oh, the Italian Job trailer. Yay, Willard is next!"). Within two weeks I had decided that I had to see the movie, even though it had been rented maybe seven times, and everyone who'd rented it said it sucked. In fact, this merely sweetened the deal, 'cos I love bad movies. Also? The cover art is lovely (it looks better in real life, but what';re you gonna do?). I had to wait if I wanted to get it for free, though, as employees can't get free rentals of a movie until it's been out for a month (unless they rent it before street date). So finally, a couple days ago, I grabbed a copy, but decided to wait until I had time in the morning to watch it. You know, just in case it was scary.
I had time to watch it yesterday morning, and as I settled in I said to myself, "After all this waiting, this had better be either really good and incredibly bad."
Try the former. Because, wow.
The reason why people hated it is explained right away, if you pay attention to the style of the opening credits. Willard is about a guy who discovers that he can control rats, and uses said discovery to take revenge on the people who have made his life hell. You read the summary on the back of the box, it sounds like a cheap, sleazy horror flick. The credits, however, tell a whole different story if you're sharp enough to catch it. They are cheesy stop motion and look a bit silly. They just scream, "Campy movie ahoy!", and immediately tipped me off to the fact that Willard was going to run contrary to my preconceived expectations. (. . . is that redundant?) If more people picked up on that, they'd have been better prepared to watch the movie differently.
But again, I was wrong. It starts out pretty camp, but at some point, while I wasn't paying attention, the campiness gradually disappeared and left me watching one hell of a psychological thriller and character study.
And on that note, I must once again cut myself short, this time because it's nearly dark and I'm riding home on a bicycle. I'd like to watch the movie again before I really get into the analysis anyway.
Which gives you even more time to rent it first. Do it. Do it do it do it. Uh, unless you're afraid of rats, because then you won't sleep for a month.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
