80. Willy's Wonderland; movie review

 

WILLY'S WONDERLAND

Cert 15

89 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong violence, gore, language, sex, threat

Let's be honest - if Nicolas Cage had not starred in Willy's Wonderland and there hadn't been a dearth of movies because of the pandemic, it would have passed beneath our radar.

That would have been a good thing because this is B-movie shlock at its worst.

And, ironically, despite his A-list allure, Cage doesn't utter a single word during the whole film.

He plays a driver of a fast car which has a blow out after hitting speed spikes near a remote American town.

He doesn't have the cash to pay for tow and repairs so is introduced to the owner of a derelict fairground and told he can make up his debt by working there as a cleaner overnight.

Of course, this isn't a common or garden run-down entertainment venue, it is a haunted one - and the spirits manifest themselves in bizarre-looking life-size killer animatronics.

So, his new 'employers' simply think Cage's character will not survive the night.

They can't have seen Cage in any of his previous movies because they would have known that they had picked on the wrong potential victim for their weird sacrifice

However, his fight against the evil giant soft toys is complicated by a bunch of well-meaning kids led by ward (Emily Tosta) of the local sheriff (Beth Grant).

And that's it - all there is to Kevin Lewis's film are either bloody deaths of humans or oily demises of the animatronics

The plot is pitifully weak and the acting is more wooden than my garden fence with the highlights being Cage pulling the occasional face and letting out sporadic guttural cries.

Apparently, some folk like it but both Mrs W and I thought it was crass.

Reasons to watch: A silent Nicolas Cage 

Reasons to avoid: Very b-movie

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 2.5/10

Did you know? Nicolas Cage has often landed himself in serious financial trouble due to his profligate spending habits.  He has bought castles, dinosaur bones, and even an entire island – but one of his weirdest purchases is his $150,000 octopus.

The final word. Kevin Lewis: "I grew up with the Banana Splits and thought it was interesting, turning it (on its head) by making them murderous animatronics. I think there is a genre for this and if you type 'dark animatronics' into Google, you come up with all kinds of stuff: cosplay and tattoos." SyFy Wire

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