Willy's Wonderland - Film Review

Growing up, I never experienced the horrific pleasure of celebrating a birthday at Chuck E. Cheese., but it's films like this that remind me that it may not have been a necessarily bad thing. The nightmarish animatronics, lousy pizza, and bacteria-riddled play areas certainly have a charm, however it seems Nicolas Cage and the masterminds behind this film agree that it doesn't appeal to everyone. 

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Where You Can Find It: I saw this on Amazon Video where it is available exclusively for rent.

General Information 
Willy's Wonderland is an action horror comedy film that was released 12 February 2021. It was directed by Kevin Lewis and distributed by Screen Media Films. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the film was simultaneously released digitally and in theaters. As of 14 February 2021, it holds a 44 Metascore on Metacritic, as well as a 63% Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Considering I am writing this review only two days after its release, there is a possibility these scores may change (and I assess they will go down somewhat).

Something that drew me to this movie was its uncanny similarity to the video game series, Five Nights at Freddy's. I had heard that Five Nights at Freddy's had a film in the works, but it seems that Willy's Wonderland is an entirely unrelated work. I am curious if Blumhouse Productions (which is working on the Five Nights at Freddy's movie) will continue to press ahead with making another "creepy pizzeria" movie since this one came out already. I actually haven't played any of the games, but they seem to be more fun to watch others play than playing alone.

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Five Nights at Freddy's gave me nightmares when it first came out

The Story

Silent protagonist, the Janitor (played by Nicolas Cage), accidentally drives his car over a police spike trap while driving through Hayesville, NV. Stranded in an internet-free town with no means to pay for repairs, the Janitor is offered an ultimatum in which he must spend the night at the defunct family restaurant, Willy's Wonderland, and clean the place in return for free tire replacements. Although its proprietor, Tex Macadoo (Ric Reitz), swears the run-down restaurant is due for a comeback, it's fairly clear that something evil roams the halls of the quaint pizzeria. One of the local teens, Liv (Emily Tosta), rallies her band of misfits to team up with the Janitor and put a stop to the evil within, but such a feat might just be impossible.

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Maybe it just wants to wish him a happy birthday?

Despite the fact that I just typed out a full paragraph describing this film's overall plot, it really doesn't matter as it's honestly not all that important. Like Snakes on a Plane, this film's protagonist essentially carries the entire story from start to finish. The Janitor is entertaining to watch as his strange demeanor is only enhanced by his love for "Punch" soda and pinball. One of the best scenes is when he prematurely leaves a fight to drink some of his favorite beverage and work on his pinball score. 

When the Janitor isn't easily killing the creatures that roam the pizzeria, nothing really matters. All of the side-characters are poorly conceived and lack any redeemable qualities. Liv and her friends look like they just walked off a CW remake of Friday the 13th, Part VII: The New Blood, while the handful of townsfolk from Hayesville have little to offer beyond unwelcome exposition.

The side characters arguably highlight an aspect of this film that I think is worth mentioning. Considering the short run-time (88 Minutes), and lack of an appealing supporting cast, I seriously think this would've been better served as a short film. Kevin Lewis could've easily cut the exposition scenes and non-Janitor scenes while still retaining the mixture of goofiness and creepiness.

Special Effects/Atmosphere

There's a decent blend of practical effects mixed with CGI, when it applies to the malevolent denizens of Willy's Wonderland, that keeps the antagonists interesting. The fight scenes are pretty quirky to behold as watching Nick Cage curb-stomp a robotic gorilla is pretty amusing. An aspect outside of combat that was pretty neat was actually watching the Janitor clean up the restaurant between his bouts with demonic entities.

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This movie answers the age-old question of whether or not demonic animatronics bleed

Like the story, there are unnecessary additions to the special effects that bring this down too. The over-use of lens flares becomes quickly apparent, but there's also an odd use of CGI in some areas that wasn't needed. The most noticeable portion was in a scene where the Janitor is holding a burlap bag filled with his signature sodas. For some reason, Kevin Lewis felt the need to make the bag CGI at a point where it was simply hanging from the Janitor's hand (specifically not in a fight/action scene). The close-up of it removed all doubt and there are other segments like that where this happened as well.

The Acting

One of the most unique qualities of this film is the fact that Nicolas Cage doesn't speak at all in this beyond a few grunts and shouts. I'm not a massive fan of Cage's work, but I genuinely liked this novel approach and I'm glad Lewis and Cage decided to go with this. Cage's facial expressions say all that really needs to be said by his character. Beyond that, he embraces the "crazy" schtick he's famous for, and it's likely the only substantial pull for this film.

Just as the supporting characters weren't all that good, the same can be said for the cast. Caylee Cowan (as Kathy) stands out as the worst of the lot due to some truly horrible line delivery, but she's hardly alone. Despite being set in a backwoods town in Nevada, Terayle Hill (as Bob) sports the most stereotypical African-American accent I've seen in some time. Generally speaking, if it weren't for the film quality and Nicolas Cage's presence, one would easily place this on par with some of the Blumhouse Productions movies like Truth or Dare or Unfriended.

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The supporting cast have little to offer beyond being pretty

The Best of the Best: The Janitor abandoning a character to fight on their own so he can work on his pinball score.

The Worst of the Worst: The atrocious acting and writing for the supporting characters/cast.

Calhooey Score: 4/10 - Below Average

Would I Recommend?

Willy's Wonderland shows slight promise when Cage is onscreen, but those moments are dashed by poor effects and even worse supporting characters. There's fun to be had, but it's mindless and doesn't really compare to other competition like Snakes on a Plane that's already been out for some time. If this was only $3-$5 to rent I'd say it's worth a shot if you like Cage, but at $20 (for rent only), I can't recommend this. I'd wait until this drops in price and you're properly inebriated before throwing any cash at it.

Spoiler Comments

• Willy's must just reek of gasoline since it's been doused in it more than once in less than twenty-four hours.
• So, the spike trap is a pretty good trap idea, but what happens if more than one car rolls by? It doesn't seem like Sheriff Lund keeps an eye on it too well.
• Speaking of the sheriff, I'm curious how she adopted Liv without having to explain to anyone in government how Liv's parents died.
• I know we'd be robbed of this film if Liv had succeeded in torching Willy's in the beginning, but if she was this hard-pressed to burn the place down, why didn't she just throw/drop the lighter when Sheriff Lund came to stop her?
• Punch Cola looks tasty.
• Good thing the Janitor let the possessed animatronics come after him one at a time. He might have been in some trouble if they'd just all immediately ganged up on him.
• I can wave away the animatronics having super strength and defying physics, but why did Kathy and Bob decide they needed to have sex inside the dirty playroom of the building they were willing to ditch their friend at?
• Either Sheriff Lund has an incredibly weak spinal cord, or the broomsticks at Willy's are made of solid titanium...
• I'm really glad we didn't see a "romance" scene between the Janitor and Liv. Nicolas Cage isn't as young as he used to be. 

References

(1) Collinson, G. (2020, June 30). Willy's Wonderland film image. Flickering Myth. Retrieved from: https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2020/06/nicolas-cage-heads-to-willys-wonderland-on-first-poster-for-new-horror/.

(2) Gluesing, A. (2014, December 1). Five Nights at Freddy's image. KRUI. Retrieved from: https://krui.fm/2014/12/01/savepoint-five-nights-freddys-video-games-resurrecting-retro-horror/.

(3) Navarro, M. (2021, February 12). Ostrich and Cage image. Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved from: https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3651840/review-horror-comedy-willys-wonderland-self-aware-cheese-fest/.

(4) Danielle, T. (2021, January 18). Nicolas Cage attacks image. Pop Horror. Retrieved from: https://www.pophorror.com/nicolas-cage-does-what-he-does-best-in-the-official-trailer-for-willys-wonderland/.

(5) Carroll, L. (2021, February 12). Nicolas Cage and supporting cast. Looper. Retrieved from: https://www.looper.com/333382/willys-wonderland-review-nicolas-cage-vs-animatronics-from-hell/.