The VOD market is awash with low budget horror movies, but up until now, none of them boasted Nicolas Cage trapped in an amusement park haunted by a Satanic cult of serial killers that committed a suicide pact to transfer their consciousness into a collection of animatronic animals who rely on the local townsfolk for human sacrifices.
That’s the insane premise behind Willy’s Wonderland, which was released yesterday, and if you’re on board with that then it delivers in spades. Only an actor of Cage’s reputation could bring us a manic and frenzied performance without having to say a single world, and while his Janitor remains silent throughout the entirety of the film, the walking meme generator still owns every frame.
Regularly gulping down cans of a mysterious energy drink for no discernible reason and playing pinball in the most Nicolas Cage fashion possible, Willy’s Wonderland also somehow manages to make several lengthy montages of the Academy Award winner cleaning bathrooms and kitchens hugely entertaining.
Director Kevin Lewis described the movie as ‘Pale Rider meets Killer Klowns from Outer Space,’ and he’s not wrong. The Janitor is very much a lone gunslinger in the Clint Eastwood mold, albeit one who attacks a hulking gorilla mascot with a plunger and faces down a huge ostrich armed only with a mop.
If you want to see one of the craziest movies of Nicolas Cage‘s career that’s an unashamed throwback to 80s horror when high concepts and outlandish gore were the order of the day, then Willy’s Wonderland is well worth checking out, and if you want to hear more about it, then be sure to read our exclusive interview with Kevin Lewis.
