A Reverse Slasher That’s an Instant Cult Classic

For the past several years, Nicholas Cage has churned out one genre feature after another. Having watched most of them, I’ve developed a theory: One in five Cage movies is a must-watch. These are the films that best harness Cage’s full-committal acting. Movies that fall into this category are “Mom and Dad,” “Color Out of Space,” and “Mandy.” Director Kevin Lewis’ “Willy’s Wonderland” is the latest addition to what I call the Twenty Percent Club. 

This svelte piece of genre fiction is hilarious, daring, and just plain weird. It’s risky filmmaking at a time when there aren't a lot of chances being taken. I attribute the success of “Willy’s Wonderland” to G.O. Parsons’ script, which defies traditional horror storytelling, and the decision to cast Cage (an actor known for his language) in a completely silent role. 

Cage plays a nameless character who is identified in the credits as “The Janitor.” At the start of the feature, his muscle car breaks down in a tiny town. To get money for repairs, he strikes a deal with a local businessman to spend the night cleaning Willy’s Wonderland, a Chuck E. Cheese analog. 

The Janitor soon discovers that the establishment is home to a collection of animal animatronics that want to kill him and anyone else who wanders into the building. 

Meanwhile, a group of mostly forgettable teens led by Liv (Emily Tosta) are on a mission to burn Willy’s to the ground in order to stop the robotic killers. Their only problem is that The Janitor won't leave Willy’s Wonderland until he completes his task. 

The movie is mostly a series of simultaneously cheeky and brutal fights between The Janitor and cartoonish monsters. The twist is, that unlike characters in other horror movies, The Janitor is hyper competent and physically powerful. His only weakness is his self-imposed adherence to the deal he struck up with Willy’s owner, which includes timed breaks. 

What makes “Willy’s Wonderland” so refreshing is the script. A different version of this movie would have cast Liv as the main character and had both her and The Janitor run, scream, and hide their way through the feature. In this alternative film, we would have watched the duo be emotional and physically tortured. In other words, we would have gotten a standard slasher.

What we actually get is a reverse slasher. I love the “Friday the 13th'' franchise and its ilk, but these films generate cognitive dissonance. Traditional slashers center the killer and glorify the death of teens for trivial transgressions like premarital sex or partying. As an audience, we are asked to cheer the torture and death of innocents. 

“Willy’s Wonderland” flips the script by taking the killer character in the slasher formula and making them a force for good. Goodbye, cognitive dissonance. 

The decision to cast Cage in a silent role is brilliant. It adds another layer of subversion. It also reminded me that Cage is an Academy Award-winning actor. In the right roles, he’s magnetic, as he is in “Willy’s Wonderland.” 

The one critique I have relates to the numerous animatronic death scenes. The Janitor’s rampages are all amazing, but Lewis didn’t take full advantage of the arcade setting. I expected at least one character to be clubbed to death by a Whac-A-Mole mallet, burned up in a pizza oven, or somehow skee-balled to death. Hopefully, something along these lines will occur in a sequel. — David (@itsmedavidcross)