Two ‘70s cult horror favorites are revisited with equal levels camp, tension, and sensitivity
It’s a rare and captivating occurrence when horror can instill fear without having to resort to violence and bloodshed. The folks at Scream Factory obviously agree in their resurrection of 1971’s Willard and its 1972 sequel Ben, a pair of beloved, yet largely forgotten titles which offer the best of horror. The two films are chock full of pure suspense, tension, humanity, and the kind unsettling feeling which lingers afterwards. While a beautiful restoration welcomes the first film, sadly only a rescued negative transfer, due to unavoidable circumstances, greets the second. Visual quality aside, both Willard and Ben evoke the kind of uneasiness and suspense required for a pair of creature features which also function as surprisingly human stories in their own way.
Willard
Based on the novel “The Ratman’s Notebooks,” Willard stars Bruce Davison as the title character, a shy young man living with his fussy mother (Elsa Lanchester) and working for a tyrant of a boss (Ernest Borgnine) in a low-level job at the company which used to belong to his family. When Willard discovers a knack for communicating with rats after befriending a gentle one he names Socrates, and a larger one he dubs Ben, Willard begins to gain confidence, especially when he discovers that he can train his new friends do anything he tells them to.
Directed by Daniel Mann, whose other credits include Butterfield 8 and Our Man Flint, Willard isn’t all that heavy on style and panache. In fact, the film has a sort of slapped together feel, making it feel like more of a low-budget enterprise than it probably was. However, there’s a certain giddyness to Willard, especially in Lanchester’s performance as a mother who could drive any son insane, and Borgnine, who makes for a great bully, torturing the title character in ways both large and small. But it’s Davison’s performance that’s the heart and soul of the film. You truly feel the agony of his day-to-day and what it means to him that he has formed a connection with Ben and Socrates. At the same time, there’s not an ounce of guilt to be felt the instances Willard uses his friends to exact revenge on his tormentors. The actor plays his role with the utmost conviction and heart, which keeps the film as grounded as it needs to be. That’s not to say there isn’t a campy level to Willard with its sequences of rodents attacking the individuals who have done the main character wrong. However, any elements which could be considered laughable never take away from this tale of someone finding their strength and their voice.
Ben
As the film’s tagline states, Ben picks up where Willard leaves off. The film opens by replaying the death of the main character from the first film before following Ben as he encounters Danny (Lee Montgomery), a friendless boy living with his mother (Rosemary Murphy) and older sister (Meredith Baxter). While Danny quickly adopts Ben and his family as his new best friends, the rats themselves begin plaguing the city as a detective (Joseph Campenella) and a reporter (Arthur O’Connell) scramble to find the leader.
Ben’s existence as a film is purely due to Willard’s success at the box office. How else do you explain a sequel where the film’s star is an actual rat? There is something truly silly about the premise that an entire town is afraid of a large group of rats, but that notion makes up the majority of the action in Ben. Although moments such as Ben’s family having their way in a grocery store after hours are pretty awesome, the same can’t be said when said rats terrorize a local spa, drawing nothing but laughs in the process. Ben has much more of a pasted together feel than Willard, while also lacking much of the touching sensitivity which gave the first film its soul. It’s hard to believe that they got such good actors to be in such an affair, and even harder to watch the likes of Campenella, Baxter, and O’Connell try and breathe life into their roles. Montgomery is the only actor able to give Ben some credibility by the way he communicates with his furry co-star, giving off the same kind of childlike sweetness that’s reminiscent of a having an imaginary friend.
Willard made enough of a profit at the box office to be considered a success, while Michael Jackson’s crooning of the sequel’s title track became an Oscar-nominated pop hit and minor classic as both films ended up falling by the wayside. A highly-stylized and entertaining 2003 remake of Willard starring Crispin Glover (after Macaulay Culkin reportedly turned down the role) did virtually nothing to help re-discover the two movies. It’s a sad case of life imitating art in that a pair of films about individuals constantly overlooked by society should be more or less forgotten about; until now, that is. In spite of the differences existing between both Willard and Ben, there’s no question both titles are incredibly worthy of recognition since the stories of both protagonists ring just as true now as they did when the movies were first released. There’s something so incredibly timeless in the notion of everyone yearning to belong, experiencing judgement and rejection on the way to finding their “pack.”
The Package
Both Willard and Ben come complete with commentary tracks and interviews from their lead actors, who generally spend the majority of time recalling how they got their roles while also gushing over their co-stars and saying how much being a part of the two movies means to them.
The Lowdown
Although different in a number of ways, ultimately both Willard and Ben pay tribute to social misfits finally discovering their place in their world.
Willard and Ben are now available on Blu-ray and DVD from Scream Factory!
