Willy’s Wonderland Review

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Willy’s Wonderland was released last month on February 12. Initially made for theatres, Willy’s Wonderland shares the premise of the Five Night’s at Freddy’s franchise. It stars Nicolas Cage.

This film departs from some horror films when a drifter (Cage) agrees to clean up Willy’s Wonderland in exchange for fixing his car. When confronted by one of the mechanical animals, the drifter doesn’t give a fuck and destroys it because his car is worth the job.

The common tropes of horror films come to light and I think it is a critique of those tropes. Meddling kids, soul-transferring rituals, unnecessary scenes and characters abound and ridiculed in some form. The only difference is the main character is going against the tropes, leaving the antagonists and supporting cast looking on in shock as if they’re saying “Hey, what’s going on with this guy?”

There were certain scenes where I rolled my eyes in annoyance, but most of the scenes were counter-productive and I liked that. When I mean counter-productive, I mean that the formula for a proper horror-slasher film is being humorously spat on by that one guy who breaks the rules for a commonplace goal; the plot falls apart because of the one guy. The action scenes were funny to me because it looks like you’re fighting an over-sized stuffed puppet.

The acting seems a bit exaggerated but on purpose. The characters focus their unnecessary shock on the drifter because the drifter does not speak a word in the film. Not a catchphrase, not a quote like “Time to make an omelet!” and not even a smile. Cage went all his way to keep the drifter as silent as possible so that his character becomes the anti-character.

Overall, this is a go-see movie. Don’t be surprised that you won’t be surprised by the tropes displayed in Willy’s Wonderland. But don’t let that fool you into thinking the anti-character will deliver because he won’t and that’s how you win the game this time.