No dialogue. No problem! Nicolas Cage still acts circles around everyone and he doesn’t say a word in the wild and quirky horror-comedy Willy’s Wonderland from director Kevin Lewis and screenwriter G.O. Parsons.
Imagine going to celebrate a birthday at Chuck E Cheese only for the animatronic rat and his buddies to come alive and kill everyone. Well, that’s the general idea behind this movie. When a mysterious stranger has his tires blown out while rolling through town, he’s coerced into trading labor as payment for the repairs. The catch is: he’s tasked with cleaning up the abandoned Willy’s Wonderland. There are also some high school kids that are super invested in burning Willy’s to the ground, but they’re mostly there as cannon fodder.
Self-awareness is always a good thing but especially important with ideas like this. Lewis knew exactly what this movie was and made sure to keep the focus on the star and the intriguing character design put forth by Parsons. You never really get to know much, but there are some specific character traits that make you want to know more. It’s an impressive piece of character building for a first writing credit and it wound up in the hands of one of the most eccentric actors in the business.
Cage plays the role with the carefree bravado or a true auteur, crushing purple mystery sodas while getting after it on the pinball machine and dancing his way through the night…that is, while he’s not killing animatronic demons and cleaning up the joint. In a career filled with a myriad of off-the-wall roles, I’d have to think that this was one of the Cagiest.
Even with a premise that’s superficially pretty dumb, you really get the most out of the experience here. There are no misgivings about what you’re getting into and it works wonderfully in that way.
Recommendation: Cage fanatics rejoice! This is a great choice for on-demand viewing from the comfort of your couch.