Willard is the antagonist in the 1971 film, Willard.
Willard is squeezed out of the company started by his deceased father. His only friends are a couple of rats he raised at home and their increasing number of friends. When one of them is killed at work, he goes on a rampage using his rats to attack al responsible.
Appearance
Willard is a meek social outcast young adult caucasian brooding male. Slender, scrawny and timid until vengeance releases his demon side. You can see it in his eyes as his anger boils up from deep within.
Powers and Abilities
Willards possess the following powers and abilities:
- Psychic connection with rats
- Directs rat swarm attacks against enemies
Fate
Willard is attacked by the very rats he controlled after trying to kill them. This vengeful new rat swarm is lead by Willard's pet rat, Ben. Willard succumbs to the swarm but Ben survives to star in his own movie.
Trivia
- The surprise box office success of this film would inspire a slew of animal-themed horror films in the early 1970s.
- According to TV Guide during the period, Ernest Borgnine had to overcome a fear of rats prior to filming.
- The house used as the Stiles family home was also later used in the films Witchboard (1986), Waxwork (1988), and Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988). It has since been retired as a filming location.
- This film went into production as "Ratman's Notebooks", the title of the novel on which it is based.
- According to Ernest Borgnine, during filming of his character's death scene, he was smeared with peanut butter to attract the rats so that it looked like they were attacking him.
- The final scenes with Bruce Davison as Willard Stiles are the opening title scenes of the sequel, Ben (1972).
Photo Gallery
_vengeful.jpg "Willard (1971) vengeful.jpg (344 KB)")
_friends.jpg "Willard (1971) friends.jpg (119 KB)")
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