Willy’s Wonderland – Bloody Fantastic
Director: Kevin Lewis
Writer: G.O Parsons (Screenplay)
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Emily Tosta, Beth Grant, David Sheftell, Kai Kadlec, Caylee Cowan, Terayle Hill
Plot: A quiet drifter is tricked into a janitorial job at the now condemned Wally’s Wonderland. The mundane tasks suddenly become an all-out fight for survival against wave after wave of demonic animatronics. Fists fly, kicks land, titans clash — and only one side will make it out alive.
Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Willy’s Wonderland starts when a silent lone drifter (Cage) sees his car have all its tyres damaged, taken back to the small town of Hayesville, he is offered a chance to repay his debt for the damage, to clean Willy’s Wonderland overnight, something the owner Tex Macadoo (Ric Reitz) has planned out for him.
Local young lady Liv (Tosta) knows something is going on in the Wonderland and has been planning to destroy it for years, now, with her friends, she will enter the Wonderland to save the man, only he has already planned for what is going to happen overnight, when the animatronics come to life.
Thoughts on Willy’s Wonderland
Characters & Performances – The Man has been traveling around the country, finding himself in Hayesville, a place he seems to have planned to attend, agreeing to clean the abandoned Willy’s Wonderland overnight, he is prepared for the surprises his finds waiting for him, fighting them off, cleaning up as he goes along, never saying a word, as well as showing off his OCD routine, which will give us one of the funniest moments of the film. Nicolas Cage is let off his lease in this film where he is will not hold back in anyway. Liv Hawthorne is a local young woman who has been trying to destroy the Wonderland for years, despite the local Sheriff always stopping her, this year is the year she plans on doing this for good, but first she needs to rescue the latest victim. This character is here to help fill in the gaps, with her friends being used to show what the Animatronics are capable of. Emily Tosta brings us the grounded character who is full of fight, while wanting to do the right thing being strong and being the one with the biggest emotional impact in the film. We do get the disposable friends that are here to help give the animatronics a body count, each of these characters are everything you are expecting to see in the horror film. The different animatronics each have their own character, being a different creation, you would expect to see in a family friendly restaurant, each will have their own strengths in combat.
Story – The story here follows a lone drifter who agrees to clean an abandoned family restaurant that happens to be cursed by demonic animatronics that need to feed, only this drifter has been prepared for this night, while a local young woman is trying to end everything going on within the walls. This is a story that gets a lot of the story filled in by the side characters through the film, which will become the basics of horror, with a twist on the demonic creations. We are here for one main reason, to see Nicolas Cage fight animatronic creatures, sometimes we just don’t need a deep story, but the one biggest weakness in the story is how the Man/Janitor played by Cage knows what is going on.
Themes – Willy’s Wonderland will give us plenty of blood and oil splattering entertainment and violence, seeing the fight between Cage and the life size fuzzy gorilla, ostrich and crocodile to mention a few, the music is used to intensify the fights and with the singular location, we see the character trapped against the demonic animatronics, which all look amazing through the film.
Signature Entertainment Presents Willy’s Wonderland Home Premiere on Digital Platforms 12th February.
Willy’s Wonderland is a total blast, the most entertainingly over the top movie of the year.
