Willard is a creepy enough adaptation that works thanks to Crispin Glover’s wonderfully creepy performance, perhaps his best role.
Willard
(2003)
Genre(s): Horror
Shout Factory | PG13 – 100 min. – $29.99 | February 26, 2019
Date Published: 03/06/2019 | Author: The Movieman
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Shout Factory provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
PLOT SYNOPSIS |
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Desperate for companionship, the repressed Willard (CRISPIN GLOVER) befriends a group of rats that inhabit his late father’s deteriorating mansion. In these furry creatures, Willard finds temporary refuge from daily abuse at the hands of his bedridden mother (JACKIE BURROUGHS) and his father’s old partner, Frank (R. LEE ERMEY). Soon it becomes clear that the brood of rodents is ready and willing to exact a vicious, deadly revenge on anyone who dares to bully their sensitive new master. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 5.0/5 |
| Although this isn’t one of Shout’s “Collector’s Edition” releases nor does it have a slip cover, this is a fairly well packed release.
Audio Commentaries:
All three of these cover a variety of aspects of the film with the first track recently recorded so you get both Morgan and McLachlan’s viewpoints all these years later. Track 2 breaks down the usage of the rats. And track 3 is an old one but with the inclusions of Glover and Ermey, you do get a little more on the acting side of things. The Road to Willard (1:19:48) is a very lengthy interview with Writer/Director Glen Morgan talking extensively about both his career and working on the film. Destination Willard (45:53) is new interview, also quite lengthy, with Cinematographer Robert McLachlan. The Rat Trainer’s Notebook (11:18) is some rat training footage for the film. The Year of the Rat (1:13:13) is a documentary on the production for Willard from the eyes of a film student. Rat People: Friends or Foes? (18:41) – This is a featurette on the fear of rats. Narrated by Bruce Davison, star of the original Willard film. Music Video (3:00) – ‘Ben’ by Crispin Glove. Includes optional commentary. Deleted/Alternate Scenes (25:57) – There are twelve scenes that didn’t make the final cut. Also includes an optional commentary track explaining why certain scenes were removed. Behind-the-Scenes and Extended Interviews (29:45) is some footage from back in 2003. Last up is the Theatrical Trailer (2:03) and 9 TV Spots (3:46). |
VIDEO – 4.5/5 |
| Shout Factory releases Willard onto Blu-ray where it received a new transfer taken from a 2K scan of the original film elements. This picture does look great with some sharp detail throughout and colors look in keeping with the darker appearance and as such, black levels are fairly stark without losing anything going on in those scenes. I didn’t notice any apparent bouts of artifacting or aliasing making for a clean transfer. |
AUDIO – 4.0/5 |
| The movie includes a nice sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track with the option of a 2.0 track. This is a perfectly fine lossless track outputting good dialogue levels via the center channel with some modest depth for the front and rear channels, though they do show a little life with the squealing of the hundreds of rats on the screen. |
OVERALL – 4.0/5 |
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Overall, Willard is a creepy enough adaptation that works thanks to Crispin Glover’s wonderfully creepy performance, perhaps his best role. This Blu-ray release from Shout Factory offers up great video and good audio transfers to go along with a fantastic set of bonus features. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.