Synopsis
Desperate for companionship, the repressed Willard 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 and his father's old partner, Frank. 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.
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Cast
- Crispin GloverWillard Stiles
- R. Lee ErmeyMr. Martin
- Laura HarringCathryn
- Jackie BurroughsMrs. Stiles
- Ashlyn GereMs. Leach
- Laara SadiqJanice Mantis
- William S. TaylorMr. Garter
- Ty OlssonOfficer Salmon
- Gus LynchGeorge Foxx
- David ParkerDetective Boxer
Recommendations
- 100
Film Threat
Willard doesn’t try to be great art (although if you really think about it, there are plenty of themes borrowed from “Hamlet,” “The Birds” and “Frankenstein” to name a few). Willard just is. - 75
Boston Globe
Wonderfully deranged. - 75
San Francisco Chronicle
A silly, snarling romp -- a fun (if you're in the mood for it), sometimes scary look at the life of a socially awkward man whose best friend is a white rodent he names Socrates. - 63
Baltimore Sun
Simply twiddling with the fine-tuning on the central character is not enough to warrant remaking a film. Both Glover and Willard deserve better. - 63
Chicago Sun-Times
There is real wit in Glover's performance. And wit, too, in R. Lee Ermey's performance as the boss, which draws heavily on Ermey's real-life experience as a drill sergeant. - 63
New York Daily News
Glover, wearing his close-cropped hair in a pompadour and striking beady-eyed, furrow-browed poses that scare the hair off a tarantula, makes it as much fun as a rat revenge movie can be. - 50
Chicago Reader
The chills are functional at best and the attempts at pathos negligible. - 40
TV Guide Magazine
Production-designed within an inch of its life, this remake's best conceit is the casting of Crispin Glover as its socially maladroit rat fancier.
