Willard (1971)

A truly great horror movie rarely exists in the business but competent ones did and do get made but here I get off the point and I truly don't mean to get off the whole point. A truly good horror movie is of its time as the Universal movies were and so were the Hammer movies. A Tobe Hooper or Wes Craven movie this isn't; Willard (1971) isn't a good movie. There are just some movie horror tropes and characters that can be sympathetic in a movie.

There are some fair actors like Bruce Davison's ability to play corn to B movies that is very entertaining to a real degree from 'This Past Summer' to 'Dahmer'. He has tough squirts habits and Everyman roles; he has that style of all American beef to suit him. I will admit that 'Willard' does that job in all, a true silliness and creature feature style that a 1950s movie does well in its type of production and stylization. He loves the rodents to the end.

I do say that this movie is fairly melodramatic and I'm right to say there is a fair amount of ridiculous melodrama and animal adulation to think of. It just makes sense to know that there is a monster in the daytime story as 1970s terror movies had started a second revival of. Here I digress, 'Willard' does achieve some terror movie, true plotting and suspenseful moments. The entire 1970s trope of revenge movies was still very thick to take in here. The revenge and teen revolt movies are all there in 'Willard'. This is far from a great terror movie but there is some good B movie production to this all together.

the creatures of willard

the willard enchantment

willard as a commander