Back to trending
Willard

Willard

Horror · Science Fiction · 1971

A social misfit, Willard is made fun of by his co-workers, and squeezed out of the company started by his deceased father by his boss. His only friends are a couple of rats he raised at home, Ben and Socrates. However, when one of them is killed at work, he goes on a rampage using his rats to attack those who have been tormenting him.

Movie details

Willard

“This is Willard and his friend Ben. Ben will do anything for Willard.”

1971 Horror · Science Fiction 1h 35m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.1 / 10

Community rating

A social misfit, Willard is made fun of by his co-workers, and squeezed out of the company started by his deceased father by his boss. His only friends are a couple of rats he raised at home, Ben and Socrates. However, when one of them is killed at work, he goes on a rampage using his rats to attack those who have been tormenting him.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Willard?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

The Evil of Frankenstein

The Evil of Frankenstein

Horror · 1964

Once hounded from his castle by outraged villagers for creating a monstrous living being, Baron Frankenstein returns to Karlstaad. High in the mountains they stumble on the body of the creature, perfectly preserved in the ice. He is brought back to life with the help of the hypnotist Zoltan who now controls the creature. Can Frankenstein break Zoltan's hypnotic spell that incites the monster to commit these horrific murders or will Zoltan induce the creature to destroy its creator?

The Creeping Flesh

The Creeping Flesh

Horror · 1973

A Victorian scientist returns to London with his paleontological bag-of-bones discovery from Papua New Guinea. Unfortunately, when exposed to water, flesh returns to the bones, unleashing a malevolent entity on the scientist's family and friends.

Phase IV

Phase IV

Horror · 1974

Arizona ants mock the food chain on their way to a desert lab to get two scientists and a woman.

The Return of Doctor X

The Return of Doctor X

Sci-fi · 1939

When news reporter Walter Garrett arrives at the hotel room of bombshell actress Angela Merrova to conduct an interview, he finds her dead from multiple stab wounds. He returns with the police to find the hotel empty and the body vanished. Garrett writes about the incident but is fired when Merrova, alive and well, goes to the paper to complain. Now his only chance to get his job back is to find the truth, which involves the grisly scheme of a madman.

Twice-Told Tales

Twice-Told Tales

Horror · 1963

3 horror stories based on the writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne. In the 1st story titled "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment", Heidegger attempts to restore the youth of three elderly friends. In "Rappaccini's Daughter", a demented father is inoculating his daughter with poison so she may never leave her garden of poisonous plants. In the final story "The House of the Seven Gables", The Pyncheon family suffers from a hundred year old curse and while in the midst of arguing over inheritance, a stranger arrives.

The Curse of the Werewolf

The Curse of the Werewolf

Horror · 1961

A child conceived by a mute servant girl transforms from an innocent youth to a killer beast at night with uncontrollable urges.

Silver Bullet

Silver Bullet

Horror · 1985

The small city of Tarker's Mills is startled by a series of sadistic murders. The population fears the work of a maniac, but sightings of a mysterious, hairy creature soon spread. People lock themselves up at night, but there's one boy who's still outside…

Twilight Zone: The Movie

Twilight Zone: The Movie

Horror · 1983

An anthology film presenting remakes of three episodes from the "Twilight Zone" TV series—"Kick the Can", "It's a Good Life" and "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"—and one original story, "Time Out."

Burnt Offerings

Burnt Offerings

Horror · 1976

A family moves into a large old mansion in the countryside which seems to have a mysterious and sinister power over its new residents.

Village of the Damned

Village of the Damned

Horror · 1960

In a small English village everyone suddenly falls unconscious. When they awake every woman of child bearing age is pregnant. The resulting children have the same strange blond hair, eyes and a strong connection to each other.

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Daniel Mann

Written by

Gilbert Ralston

Bruce Davison

Bruce Davison

Willard Stiles

Ernest Borgnine

Ernest Borgnine

Al Martin

Sondra Locke

Sondra Locke

Joan Simms

Elsa Lanchester

Elsa Lanchester

Henrietta Stiles

Michael Dante

Michael Dante

Brandt

Jody Gilbert

Jody Gilbert

Charlotte Stassen

William Hansen

William Hansen

Barskin

Court is in session

Put Willard on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Arthouse Gremlin

“Its refusal to behave is the point.”

The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.

The prosecution The Prestige Tourist

“Oddness is not depth.”

A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.