Sometimes I forget that movies are entertainment. I mean, they’re big business and make some people obscene amounts of money. In that respect they’re serious. And also, they literally get into our heads and become part of our life’s experience. Horror films, whatever that means, are often intelligent and thought-provoking. I’ve been focusing on genre for a while now and when a friend recommended Willy’s Wonderland, and it was on one of my streaming services, I said “why not?” This is entertainment, but the genre is all over the place. Comedy, yes. Fantasy, check. Thriller, okay. Action, definitely. Horror, I’ll buy as well. Nicolas Cage movie? Well, he doesn’t look like he’s in his mid-fifties, and he doesn’t say a word in the whole thing. The movie has possessed animatronic animals. Satanists. Small-town conspiracy. Teens getting themselves killed. And “one tough hombre.”
So what’s it about? Hayesville has made a deal with the Devil. A serial killer started an entertainment restaurant for kids’ birthdays, but along with his associates, began, well, killing. Before the police could get them, they committed ritual suicide in a satanic pact, and they were permitted to inhabit the animatronic creatures. When they weren’t fed, the machines started preying on townsfolk, so now they trap passersby and trick them into spending a night in Willy’s Wonderland so the machines can feed. Cage’s unnamed character shows up and spends the night cleaning, killing machines, and playing pinball. A young woman whose family had been killed tries to burn the place down, but, with her friends dead, and Cage leaving town after the carnage, she goes along for the ride. It’s one of those movies that defies genre conventions.
As with many films released early in this pandemic, this one had a tough time at the box office. I’d never even heard of it until the friend’s recommendation. Lots of movies just disappear, but this one has at least the beginnings of a cult following. It’s not difficult to see why. If you can put up with the slasher aspect, it has quite a lot going for it. Creepy kids’ stuff, children’s songs, and tawdry attractions are something we all experience in our own lives. And a guy who goes around doing good—cleaning up other people’s messes, is something I think we tend to appreciate. As a former janitor myself, I like the idea that the cleaning crew is the one who, well, cleans the clocks of the mechanical villains. It’s a wonderland worth visiting.