Willy's Wonderland

## About

**Willy's Wonderland** is a 2021 American action comedy horror film directed by Kevin Lewis from a screenplay written by G. O. Parsons. The film stars Nicolas Cage, who also serves as producer, along with Emily Tosta, Ric Reitz, Chris Warner, Kai Kadlec, Christian Del Grosso, Caylee Cowan, Terayle Hill, Jonathan Mercedes, David Sheftell, and Beth Grant. It follows a quiet drifter who is tricked into cleaning up an abandoned family entertainment center haunted by the eight murderous animatronic mascots.

The project was announced in October 2019, with screenwritter Parsons having come up with the idea based on his 2016's short film Wally's Wonderland, which was also the original script name. It caught Cage's attention, who shortly after agreed to participate as both an actor and a producer. Lewis was hired as director in December 2019 while the cast joined in February 2020. Prior to its release, the film received a small cult following due to comparisons with the *Five Nights at Freddy's* video game series.

*Willy's Wonderland* was originally set for a worldwide theatrical release on October 30, 2020, but was postponed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it was released through video on demand, with a simultaneous limited theatrical release in the United States, on February 12, 2021 by Screen Media Films.

## Plot

A quiet drifter ends up stranded in remote Hayesville, Nevada after his vehicle breaks down when the wheels go over a spike strip in the middle of the road. He is picked up by mechanic Jed Love, who takes him to Willy's Wonderland, a once-successful abandoned family entertainment center. Owner Tex Macadoo offers him to work as a night shift janitor in exchange for repairing his vehicle. Meanwhile, teenager Liv Hawthorne is handcuffed by her caretaker and Hayesville's sheriff Eloise Lund due to her previous attempts to set the place on fire. When Lund leaves, Liv's friends, Chris Muley, Kathy Barnes, Aaron Powers, Bob McDaniel, and Dan Lorraine, come and release her.

While the Janitor begins his cleaning duties, Tex and Jed leave until the next morning, but not before leaving him locked in the building. The restaurant's now-withered eight animatronic mascots — Willy Weasel, Arty Alligator, Cammy Chameleon, Ozzie Ostrich, Tito Turtle, Knighty Knight, Gus Gorilla, and Siren Sara — are revealed to be alive and aggressive, ending with Ozzie Ostrich attacking the Janitor. However, the Janitor ends up beating Ozzie to death with a mop.

Liv and her friends arrive at Willy's Wonderland, dousing the walls in gasoline until Liv decides to enter through the vents to get the Janitor out. Simultaneously, the Janitor is attacked by Gus Gorilla in the restrooms; he easily defeats Gus by stomping his face into a urinal, killing him. In the vents, Liv is chased by Arty Alligator but she escapes into a fairy-themed room where Siren Sara attacks her. Liv's screams are heard by both her friends and the Janitor, who come across a still-alive Liv as Sara runs away.

The Janitor ignores Liv's warnings about the animatronics and refuses to leave the building. Outside, the teens climb to the roof but a fight between Chris and Bob collapses it and everybody falls into the restaurant. While the Janitor cleans the kitchen, Liv explains that Willy's Wonderland was originally owned by Jerry Robert Willis, one of the last century's sickest killers, and his psychotic cannibal partners, who often murdered unsuspecting families for pleasure. Eventually discovered, they committed a satanic ritual to transfer their souls into the animatronic characters. The Janitor does not pay attention as several animatronics come to life and start attacking the group.

In the ensuring chaos, Knighty Knight brutally impales Aaron with his sword while Siren Sara and Tito Turtle pursue and devour Dan. Arty Alligator attacks Kathy and Bob in a room, mauling them to death. The Janitor manages to kill both Knighty and Arty with Liv's help. Stalked by Cammy Chameleon in an arcade, Chris calls Sherrif Lund for help; she goes there with deputy Evan Olson upon finding out that Liv is in the restaurant. On the way, Lund reveals to Evan that after Willy's Wonderland was shut down, the animatronics continued murdering people around Hayesville until she, Tex and Jed made a deal with them. Over the years, they tricked stranded drifters into cleaning up the place, offering them as sacrifices to the animatronics in order to stop their killing spree. Liv's parents where among the victims and a guilty Sheriff Lund adopted her.

The Janitor and Liv arrives to the arcade but Cammy snaps Chris' neck, killing him. After defeating Cammy, Sara and Tito, the Janitor and Liv attempt to leave, only to be stopped by Sheriff Lund and Evan. Lund handcuffs the Janitor and leaves him to die as Evan takes Liv away. While driving, Evan is attacked and killed by a stowaway Tito as Liv escapes. Back at the restaurant, the Janitor fights the remaining animatronics, killing Cammy and badly injuring Sara. Enraged, Sheriff Lund tries to lure Willy Weasel to kill the Janitor, only for Willy to come to life and tear her in half. Willy and the Janitor face off in a brutal fight until the Janitor rips his head off, finally killing him.

The next morning, Tex and Jed return to the building and find it completely clean, with the animatronics destroyed. The Janitor receives his repaired vehicle and invites Liv to accompany him. While Tex and Jed discuss planning to reopen Willy's Wonderland, Siren Sara suddenly appears and sets their car on fire with gasoline from the previous night. All three are killed in a massive explosion that also destroys the restaurant. As the sun rises, the Janitor and Liv drive out of the town while running over and killing a wandering Tito Turtle on the road along the way.

## Cast

* Nicolas Cage as the Janitor, an unnamed quiet drifter who agrees to work as a janitor on Willy's Wonderland.
* Emily Tosta as Liv Hawthorne, Sheriff Lund's step-daughter who tries to destroy the restaurant.
* Beth Grant as Sheriff Eloise Lund, Hayesville's sheriff and Liv's caretaker.
* David Sheftell as Evan Olson, Hayesville's deputy sheriff who works with Sheriff Lund.
* Ric Reitz as Tex Macadoo, the actual owner of Willy's Wonderland..
* Chris Warner as Jed Love, a mechanic and tow truck driver working with Tex.
* Kai Kadlec as Chris Muley, Liv's friend who has a crush on her.
* Caylee Cowan as Kathy Barnes, Liv's best friend and Bob's girlfriend.
* Terayle Hill as Bob McDaniel, Liv's friend and Kathy's boyfriend.
* Christian Del Grosso as Aaron Powers, one of Liv's friends.
* Jonathan Mercedes as Dan Lorraine, one of Liv's friends.
* Grant Cramer as Jerry Robert Willis, the former owner of Willy's Wonderland, who became a cannibal serial killer.

Chris Padilla and Olga Cramer appear in flashbacks as Liv's parents Jim and Judy Hawthorne, while Kamia Arrington portrays a 5-years-old Liv. The animatronic characters' cast includes in-suit performers Jiri Stanek as Willy Weasel, Taylor Towery as Cammy Chameleon, Chris Schmidt Jr. as Tito Turtle, Christopher Bradley as Arty Alligator, Jessica Graves as Siren Sara, Duke Jackson as Knighty Knight, Billy Bussey as Gus Gorilla, and B. J. Guyer as Ozzie Ostrich. Graves, Émoi, Mark Gagliardi, Madisun Leigh, and Abel Arias provide the voices of Siren Sara, Willy Weasel, Gus Gorilla, Cammy Chameleon, Ozzie Ostrich and Tito Turtle, respectively.

## Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 64% based on 36 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "*Willy's Wonderland* isn't quite as much fun as its premise would suggest -- but it's still got Nicolas Cage beating the hell out of bloodthirsty animatronics, which is nice." On Metacritic, the film has a calculated weighted average score of 44 out of 100 based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Anton Bitel from VODzilla.co rated *Willy's Wonderland* seven out of ten, saying: "It is set in an amusement centre for children, but comes with adult doses of foul-mouthed language, sex, gore and death. Its scenarios feel a little rote, but are enlivened by the craziness that Cage brings to everything". Nick De Semlyn of *Empire* gave it a score of three out of five while IGN's Matt Fowler gave it a rating of six out of ten. Also Variety prized the operation, sentencing: "Kevin Lewis's giant-furry-funhouse-mascot slasher movie knows how preposterous it is but plays it straight".

A mixed-to-positive review came from Battle Royale With Cheese's Matt Conway, who wrote: "There's an inherently twisted glee in seeing these Chuck E. Cheese-esque creations recklessly throw out vulgarities in their unending pursuit of immoral crimes. When the director is able to tap into the premise's over-the-top mania, he unleashes a flurry of intimately shaky frames painted with colorful buckets of bloodshed. Lewis and screenwriter G.O. Parsons admirably never take their offering too seriously, implementing a few humorously bizarre frames along the way [...]."

Kimberley Elizabeth from Nightmare On Film Street gave a score of 7.5/10 commenting: "Nicolas Cage['s] unique brand of kickassery is the jelly to this animatronic PB & J Horror sandwich". Ready Steady Cut wrote: "Daft plot, fabulous fight scenes, teenagers in peril and plenty of gore. Sure, the film could have been better, but it didn’t exactly need to be: this was thoroughly entertaining" and gave to it a rating of 3.5 on 5. The Playlist gave a similar opinion and rated the film with a "B+".

## References

1. ↑ Willy's Wonderland.
2. ↑ Willy's Wonderland Reviews. Red Ventures.
3. ↑ Bitel, Anton. VOD film review: Willy's Wonderland (2021).
4. ↑ De Semlyn, Nick. Willy's Wonderland Review.
5. ↑ Fowler, Matt. Willy's Wonderland Review.
6. ↑ Gleiberman, Owen. ‘Willy’s Wonderland’ Review: Nicolas Cage Faces Off Against Animatronic Kiddie Monsters in a Horror Bash That Revels in its Cageness.
7. ↑ Conway, Matt. Willy's Wonderland: The BRWC Review.
8. ↑ Elizabeth, Kimberly. [Review Nicolas Cage Battles Evil Animatronics in Willy's Wonderland and We Likey].
9. ↑ Turner, Alix. Willy’s Wonderland review – punch and pop aplenty from Cage, mighty and moody as ever.
10. ↑ Barfield, Charles. 'Willy's Wonderland' Is A Bonkers Ode To '80s Horror With A Caffeine-Fueled, Pinball-Obsessed Nicolas Cage [Review].