About 50 years ago, a small psychological horror movie came out based on Stephen Gilbert's short novel Ratman's Notebooks, entitled Willard. While not a critical darling upon its original release in early 1971, it did garnish enough audience revenue to warrant a semi-followup a year later. The main premise of the film, similar to the book, centers around a young man who relates a lot more to rats than other people, which is a fascinating character study on paper. As for how the film turned out, while not without its jumbled pacing, it is a fairly disturbing insight into a social misfit simply too old for his own good.
Willard Stiles (played by a young Bruce Davison) is a pleasantly presented albeit lonely young man with little connection to other people, even his aging mother, Henrietta Stiles (Elsa Lanchaster). Living with his mother in a run-down mansion, Willard ends up raising a horde of rats whom he befriends, and ends up basing his whole life around them. From the start of the picture, Willard seems well intent and mannered, but he becomes more relatable upon fathering all of the rats in his house backyard. As unhealthy as it may seem to the average person, these rats are the only thing that Willard has any real affiliation with, which makes his normal day job all the more peculiar. Even though he works at his family owned business, he works for the conniving Al Martin (Ernest Borgnine), who took over the company and pretty much shuts Willard down at any chance in the most subtle of ways. As a result, the unpredictable and frightening presence of these otherwise dirty rodents are perfect for poor Willard to maintain his life, as they give him a good reason to live life in his own weird way.
However, director Daniel Mann and screenwriter Gilbert Ralston hint at how slowly Willard falls into stubbornness and selfishness in treating his house as something for his new family as opposed to his real one. Given how much pressure people keep putting on Willard to sell his mother's home, as well as so much hostility coming from Mr. Martin and other colleagues, the otherwise innocent man trains the rats to wreak havoc on the people by means of vengeance. It's clear that Willard does value his newer family of rodents, but the levels on which he abuses his ability and their own well being go further and further into misfortune. The only human Willard has any sort of care towards is his friend and assistant Joan, who while a fairly bland female companion, does feel like a much more genuine contrast compared to everyone else in the poor man's life. It becomes all the more heartbreaking that she has no idea of the hole her own colleague has continuously dug himself into. As the old saying goes, absolute power corrupts absolutely, such is the case with Willard and his rat family.
Aside from Willard, the other character who practically steals the show from time to time is Ben, a black rat with behavioral problems. Although the rats in general give Willard a lot of trouble economically and mentally, Ben is the biggest problem child of them all due to his mischievous attitude and growing discomfort towards his own caretaker. Perhaps the one notable flaw of the movie is how it does take a while to really get going, as it does spend a lot of time showcasing Willard's miserable mother and her annoying companions to the point of disinterest. However, once Ben and other rats start to take over Willard's life, the film becomes a lot more intense, to the point where Alex North's initial brightfully cheerful score grows more and more sinister overtime. It's been said that the aforementioned director intended to start off the film as a dark comedy and then expose it as a full on horror flick with some blood and death here and there. In a way, by testing the patience of the viewers and allowing them to soak themselves into these rats, it made the payoff a lot more satisfying.
Looking at Willard 50 years after its original appearance, there's a lot to admire about it, and not just from how much popularity it gave to rats. Knowing just how much some human beings connect with other animals over their own kind, seeing the demise of an innocent loner through his failed care taking of a murderous rat family has left quite the impact on people over the decades. I would definitely give this a recommendation if you're interested in killer animal flicks, because it also acts as a reminder to not take your own pets for granted. The more you delude yourself in your creations, the further you will fall, and they'll do it for you.
Willard Stiles (played by a young Bruce Davison) is a pleasantly presented albeit lonely young man with little connection to other people, even his aging mother, Henrietta Stiles (Elsa Lanchaster). Living with his mother in a run-down mansion, Willard ends up raising a horde of rats whom he befriends, and ends up basing his whole life around them. From the start of the picture, Willard seems well intent and mannered, but he becomes more relatable upon fathering all of the rats in his house backyard. As unhealthy as it may seem to the average person, these rats are the only thing that Willard has any real affiliation with, which makes his normal day job all the more peculiar. Even though he works at his family owned business, he works for the conniving Al Martin (Ernest Borgnine), who took over the company and pretty much shuts Willard down at any chance in the most subtle of ways. As a result, the unpredictable and frightening presence of these otherwise dirty rodents are perfect for poor Willard to maintain his life, as they give him a good reason to live life in his own weird way.
However, director Daniel Mann and screenwriter Gilbert Ralston hint at how slowly Willard falls into stubbornness and selfishness in treating his house as something for his new family as opposed to his real one. Given how much pressure people keep putting on Willard to sell his mother's home, as well as so much hostility coming from Mr. Martin and other colleagues, the otherwise innocent man trains the rats to wreak havoc on the people by means of vengeance. It's clear that Willard does value his newer family of rodents, but the levels on which he abuses his ability and their own well being go further and further into misfortune. The only human Willard has any sort of care towards is his friend and assistant Joan, who while a fairly bland female companion, does feel like a much more genuine contrast compared to everyone else in the poor man's life. It becomes all the more heartbreaking that she has no idea of the hole her own colleague has continuously dug himself into. As the old saying goes, absolute power corrupts absolutely, such is the case with Willard and his rat family.
Aside from Willard, the other character who practically steals the show from time to time is Ben, a black rat with behavioral problems. Although the rats in general give Willard a lot of trouble economically and mentally, Ben is the biggest problem child of them all due to his mischievous attitude and growing discomfort towards his own caretaker. Perhaps the one notable flaw of the movie is how it does take a while to really get going, as it does spend a lot of time showcasing Willard's miserable mother and her annoying companions to the point of disinterest. However, once Ben and other rats start to take over Willard's life, the film becomes a lot more intense, to the point where Alex North's initial brightfully cheerful score grows more and more sinister overtime. It's been said that the aforementioned director intended to start off the film as a dark comedy and then expose it as a full on horror flick with some blood and death here and there. In a way, by testing the patience of the viewers and allowing them to soak themselves into these rats, it made the payoff a lot more satisfying.
Looking at Willard 50 years after its original appearance, there's a lot to admire about it, and not just from how much popularity it gave to rats. Knowing just how much some human beings connect with other animals over their own kind, seeing the demise of an innocent loner through his failed care taking of a murderous rat family has left quite the impact on people over the decades. I would definitely give this a recommendation if you're interested in killer animal flicks, because it also acts as a reminder to not take your own pets for granted. The more you delude yourself in your creations, the further you will fall, and they'll do it for you.