The Willies (1990)

Memorable, crazy movie

Brilliant and touching

As Good As It Gets

A Disappointing Continuation

The VHS culture of the 90's was still booming. As a child I would automatically travel to the horror section in my local video store,and I would be intrigued by various movies. But The Willies always seemed to interest me. After multiple viewings of this film I have grown quite fond of this film. The film begins with three boys in a tent trying to gross each out by telling urban legends, you know stories about a woman microwaving her dog and a woman eating a rat at a fried chicken restaurant. But then we get to the stories of the movie. The story is about a weirdo who has a fetish for collecting flies and the other story is about a kid who discovers a creep in his High School bathroom.Not really going into a lot about the stories cause you needs to watch. The film has it's moments of pure grossness and is filled with cameos by Clu Gulager and James Karen both from Return of the Living Dead (the film is directed by a star of that film as well), it also has a wink to The Goonies (in which Sean Astin stars). But if you are a fan of "Are you afraid of the Dark" and other type of Anthrology type stuff like that you'll most likely love The Willies. It is filled with great imagination and it has the right amount of cheese of a B-movie. Also after years of owning the film on VHS I never knew that it came with an alternate VHS slip cover so that is another plus to this amazing film.

One of my earliest horror related memories is of reading a comic (I'm guessing it was a reprint of old EC tales) in which a kid who enjoyed pulling the wings off flies ended up having both of his arms torn off (I recall that he may have even been given giant fly wings as replacements, although I may have made that bit up over the years). This story seems to be the inspiration for the second of the two main tales in kiddie-centric horror anthology The Willies, whilst the first, about a boy who discovers a monster in the school bathroom, appears to have borrowed heavily from an early Stephen King short story called 'Here There Be Tygers'. Even the short stories in the pre-credits sequence are based on familiar urban legends—meaning that the film doesn't rate very well for originality. Writer director Brian Peck also loses points for the poor structuring of his film, with the second story in particular long outstaying its welcome.As highly derivative and poorly paced as the film may be, however, The Willies is still just about worthwhile thanks to its tongue-in-cheek approach (loved the Goonies in-joke), nicely developed characters (the solid cast includes future hobbit Sean Astin, and James Karen and Clu Gulager from Return of the Living Dead), some hokey creature effects, and above all, a genuine sense of fun. Plus, it's hard for me to hate too much on a film that, despite being aimed predominantly at a younger audience, actually proves rather disturbing at times: fly-boy Gordy (Michael Bower) surveying his macabre dioramas featuring dead flies is nice and twisted (the Church even has a dead fly attached to a crucifix!) and his fate is as gruesome as it should be (which reminds me... if anyone can shed any light on the name/issue number of that comic I read many moons ago, please drop me a message—I'd love to read that story again).

The Willies starts late one night as brother's Josh (Joshua Miller) & Kyle (Jason Horst) are camping outside with their cousin Michael (Sean Astin), they decide to pass the time by telling scary stories...First up is Michael with a story entitled 'Bad Apples' in which a young boy named Danny Hollister (Ian Fried) is bullied at school, however the sinister new janitor Mr. Jenkins (James Karen) decides to help him out...Next up is Kyle as he tells a strange story called 'Flyboy' in which an overweight bully with a worrying fascination with dead flies gets what he deserves in a horrible twisted way...Written & directed by Brian Peck The Willies didn't do much for me & I doubt it'll do much for you either. The script is strange as far as episodic anthologies go, instead of the usual three or four stories it only has two main tales & a few bizarre 'urban myth' type mini scenes at the start, these consist of the person who orders food from a fast food restaurant only to find a dead rat in her chicken, a man who dies of a heart attack on a ride & someone who tries to dry her poodle off in the microwave only for it to explode. I have no idea what the purpose of these scenes are but they add nothing to the film, as for the two main stories they are both weak. For a start they are too long which is a huge mistake in these types of films, usually the stories in anthologies are short, sharp & quick with a nice twist at the end usually involving people getting what they deserved. However in The Willies the stories last for the best part of 40 minutes each which is longer than the average TV episode & I must admit I found both stories very boring, they have very little going for them & seem to be aimed at children. The first story is the better to watch as a whole but it has no twist ending as far as I could see while the second one has a nice 'just deserts' ending but the build up to it is weak & drawn out for no good reason. I really like horror anthology films so The Willies comes as a disappointment, frankly it lets the genre down.Director Peck was obviously working on a low budget & as a whole The Willies is pretty tough to sit through, there's plenty of continuity errors & it's poorly made. There's no atmosphere, there's no scares, there's no gore, the special effects are poor & it features unnecessary shots of a dirty toilet several times. Overall it's a pretty unappealing film to sit through.Technically The Willies is rough around the edges to say the least, the effects are far from special & it has an extremely drab & grainy look to the picture. The acting is poor, no ones going to win any awards thats for sure.The Willies is a poor film, it's not scary, it's not fun, it's not entertaining & it only features two overlong stories. Definitely not recommended.

I have the feeling that this movie was supposed to be bad. And, like the cult classic Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, it revels in being a bad movie. It has fun with it. As a result, the viewer has fun with it.B-movie or not, this is the second best horror-comedy I've ever seen, between Ghostbusters and Blithe Spirit (1945).It feels like the entire Growing Pains cast and crew were bored one weekend and decided to make a movie. As a Growing Pains fan myself (the show was full of tongue-in-cheek jabs at sitcoms), I spotted dozens of GP guest stars. If you liked the Growing Pains Halloween episodes, you will enjoy this.Jeremy Miller is the reason I wanted to see this movie. His "Ben Seaver Scream" always cracked me up (in fact, it was my favorite part of Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star). Unfortunately, he did not scream the entire movie.SPOILER WARNING, but it really doesn't matter anyway.... you know what's coming, but you'll still like it.Kids are sitting in a tent telling stories. Sean Astin and Josh Miller (looks like he might be Jeremy Miller's little brother) are mostly credible, though it looks like they could have used a few more takes.The better stories are the shorter ones. My personal favorite is the dog in the microwave story. The music as the dog is being dried in the microwave is wonderfully inappropriate and is the viewer's first demonstration that the movie is a very good comedy - a low-budget spoof on low-budget horror movies. The clock we watch to show time elapsing is the ultimate in campy kitsch - I searched long and hard to find one just like it for my own kitchen. And there was attention to detail - the props guys hacked a couple of panel lights onto the microwave; as an electrical engineer, they reminded me of a nuclear power plant's control room. The whole scene is like a surreal combination of live-action Simpsons episode mixed with Eerie, Indiana.There's a deep-fried rat at Tennessee Fricassee Chicken. The camera work is a beautiful homage to amateur video - you'll see what I mean. The next story involves an insufferable brat who is bullied, finds a monster in the school bathroom, and starts feeding it the bullies. Jeremy Miller is one of the bullies. In the midst of silly B-movie, we see a glimpse of Miller's powerful but underused acting talent as he meets the monster - big, wide eyes, frozen in fear, no trace of the "I-can't-believe-we're-doing-this" humor otherwise justifying the entire production. For that one second of screen time, you really believe in the monster. And then cut to feathers flying out of the bathroom stall as the monster chews through his down-filled jacket.Finally, the boy with the flies. Disturbing, horrible, awful. And it works only because of things like the shameless Growing Pains plug, Spivey's Miracle Manure, dioramas of a different world, and my personal favorite: a mic boom reflected in a window, reminiscent of the little trollies under the tomatoes in Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.This movie is absolutely horrible. And that's why you'll love it. When (if) it's released on DVD, sign me up for a copy.