Willard (2003)

A young man with an unusual connection to rats uses them at his own sociopathic will.

Director:

Glen Morgan

Writers:

Glen Morgan (screenplay), Gilbert Ralston

Stars:

Crispin Glover, R. Lee Ermey, Laura Harring

1 win & 5 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Crispin Glover	...	Willard
R. Lee Ermey	...	Mr. Martin
Laura Harring	...	Cathryn (as Laura Elena Harring)
Jackie Burroughs	...	Mrs. Stiles
Ashlyn Gere	...	Ms. Leach (as Kimberly Patton)
William S. Taylor	...	Mr. Garter
Edward Horn	...	Colquitt
Gus Lynch	...	George Foxx
Laara Sadiq	...	Janice Mantis
David Parker	...	Detective Boxer
Ty Olsson	...	Officer Salmon

Storyline

This is the story of Willard Stiles who is a social misfit taking care of his ill and fragile but verbally abusive mother Henrietta in a musty old mansion that is also home to a colony of rats. Willard then finds himself constantly humiliated in front of his co-workers and is eventually fired by his cruel and uncaring boss, Mr. Frank Martin, a vicious man whose professional interest in Willard extends to a personal financial one.

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Plot Keywords:

rat | killing a pet | character name as title | forename as title | psychotronic film | 

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Taglines:

From small things... comes great power.

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for terror/violence, some sexual content and language

Details

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 March 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Vingança de Willard

Filming Locations:

Lion's Gate Studios, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,000,000, 16 March 2003

Gross USA:

$6,886,089

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$8,564,586

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema, Hard Eight Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Cathryn brings over her ginger cat to cheer Willard up, the cat is named Scully. Glen Morgan and James Wong served as long-time writers/producers on The X-Files (1993).

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Goofs

The gender of the two main rats, Socrates and Ben change through out the film. In some scenes the rats are male and in others they are female.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Willard's Mother: Willard! There are rats in the basement!

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Crazy Credits

Second Unit Chef Dave Carlson's credit is listed as: Cater to the Stars...DAVID CARLSON

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Connections

Referenced in Midnight Screenings: The Green Lantern/Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011)

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Soundtracks

Ben
Written by Walter Scharf and Don Black
Performed by Crispin Glover (as Crispin Hellion Glover)
Produced by Crispin Glover (as Crispin Hellion Glover) and Robert Haimer

User Reviews

I liked this movie, but I HATED the scene with the cat

"Willard" is a really good movie. I liked it a lot and Crispin Glover is a good actor, although this is the only film I have ever seen him in. This was a disturbing movie and not scary. Maybe a little disgusting in some parts, but definitely not a horror. As almost everyone who loved this movie has said, Crispin Glover WAS Willard. I thought he played him to perfection. He was shy, sad, sweet, quiet, angry, manic, and crazy all in one! He was a mixture of all those things! I loved the way Crispin portrayed him. Whenever he was p*ssed off all he did was clench his teeth, breath hard, and his eyes would grow to the size of quarters. I liked how he wasn't violent and homicidal until he befriended those rats and he thought about all those people who wronged him. Especially his boss. What an ass! He deserved it. Willard was a sweet guy. He really was. I thought the scene when the boss killed Socrates was sad. And I don't usually find it sad when rats are killed. But Socrates was Willard's only friend! Besides Kat, of course, but I think Willard liked Socrates more than her. :) Anyways. Crispin Glover played Willard flawlessly. A great actor. As for the rats, they didn't scare me. They were disgusting and ravenous, but not very frightening. Ben the evil rat was creepy, though. I think the only thing that would have made the rats scary is if they had glowing red eyes and long fang-like teeth. Now that would be frightening. But I don't think Willard would have wanted to hang out with them if they looked like that. But the rats were OK but not scary. Well, overall I thoroughly enjoyed this film and my favorite thing about it was Crispin's performance. I loved watching him. He was creepy. Anyways. Thanks for reading my review!

P.S. As for the cat scene, TOTALLY unnecessary. Very sad and disturbing, especially if you're a cat lover, like I am. I had to give my cat away last week because she had fleas and watching that scene made me think of her. And I cried! I CRIED! And I think the music was what made it an even sadder scene. That's the only thing I didn't like about this movie. Very cruel and out of place.

Good movie, though!!!