'Willy's Wonderland' is an action horror comedy that follows a quiet drifter who becomes stranded in Hayesville after his car breaks down, and has to clean an abandoned family fun centre in exchange for repairs. The unnamed loner soon discovers he is trapped in the centre and must fight off possessed animatronic mascots to survive. At the same time, a group of teenagers plan to destroy the centre as they are aware of the ritualistic killings that take place at the fun-house.
'Willy's Wonderland' is a mishmash of dumb fun and gory action sequences, as the primary focus of the feature is following the drifter and his fight with the possessed mascots. The drifter is presented as a man of few words, not actually uttering a single line throughout the feature, and is a man of focus and conviction, as he cleans the fun-centre, takes intermittent breaks and deals with the mascots, one at a time, as they come after him. The character is revealed to have expert abilities in self-defence, elevating each scene in which the drifter can let his abilities shine by dismembering the animatronics in spectacularly brutal ways. Even though the audience is treated to scenes where the drifter pulls out the spine of one of the creatures and is more often than not left covered in the mascots' oil, the main character always manages to pull back and return to the task at hand - ultimately delivering a spotless entertainment centre. We are also treated to the loner enjoying his breaks, - drinking pop and playing a 'Willy' themed pinball machine, showcasing his unrelenting urge to just get on with it and make it through the night.
At the same time, the group of teenagers who plan to destroy the fun centre are set on destroying the place, but not before rescuing the drifter. The group, spearheaded by Liv, a survivor of the fun centre, head in and deal with the variety of horrifying creatures. As they are picked off one by one, to varying degrees of hilarity and gruesomeness, the group shrinks down to only Liv and the drifter. In an almost trance-like state, the loner deals with the monsters as if they were a part of the clean up requested of him. He cleans a spot, kills off a creature and takes a break. The nonchalant attitude the drifter has towards the possessed animatronics is what makes the feature a success in some way.
The film is anchored by Nicholas Cage who plays the drifter/janitor. Evidently Cage has made some strong choices for his performance here, - acting cool as a cucumber when carrying out his janitorial duties and the ancillary destruction of whatever comes after him, whilst at the same time letting loose and delivering an increasingly erratic portrayal of a man taking a break and playing a pin-ball machine. The rest of the cast is filled out by Emily Tosta, Beth Grant, David Sheftell and Ric Reitz, yet do not manage to pull attention from Cages character when present together on screen.
The film is directed by Kevin Lewis and written by G. O. Parsons. The story is reminiscent of 'Five Nights at Freddy's' a video game with the same premise, - where the protagonist has to survive a fun-house whilst being haunted by animatronic creatures. Even though the creators deny any resemblance. Whatever the case may be, the film may have benefited more from leaning into what made the game into a successful franchise - a darker tone and more tense and suspenseful scenes, delivering more scares rather than a light touch of chilling moments. Besides the ridiculous plot and somewhat bad acting from the younger part of the cast, 'Willy's Wonderland' is a silly but enjoyable feature if the viewer is seeking to satisfy some truly off the wall Nic Cage acting, a performance that is unique and enjoyable if only for how eccentric and how well of a fit it is to the premise of the story.
Score: 2/4
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