Mann’s delicate 1971 psychological horror skillfully explores the psyche of a lost and lonely boy seeking freedom, liberation, and escape in all the wrong places.
Willard (1971) has long been overlooked as a horror classic. Daniel Mann’s film is one of the most creative, complex and ingenious horror flicks of the early 70s. Its disappearance and lack of critical assessment were mainly due to the film vanishing during the 1980s, with many assuming it had been eaten away by rats in a dusty garage somewhere. But Willard survived and was finally released on Blu-ray in 2017, alongside its utterly bizarre sequel Ben (1972).
Willard owes much to Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960); like Hitchcock, Mann’s movie explores themes of sexual repression, loneliness, and isolation. Willard Stiles (Bruce Davison) is an introverted, socially awkward young man living with his overbearing and controlling mother. His repressed sexuality is evident throughout as he struggles to form meaningful connections with others, leading to a profound sense of loneliness and frustration.
However, unlike Bates, Willard’s manipulative and controlling mother is alive at the start of the film, and the vast house they share is a maze of psychological torment for the young man as he attempts to navigate his own needs while his mother demands he attends to hers. In many ways, Willard’s relationship with his mother feels like a prequel to the events of Psycho, but unlike Norman Bates, Willard’s need for control and freedom takes a different turn.
Willard does not become a serial killer desperate to appease his mother; instead, he befriends rodents that offer love and companionship at a price. Willard is not evil, nor is he as psychologically damaged as Norman Bates; he is lonely, nervous and oppressed. Here, Mann’s film explores toxic masculinity, power and control in relation to Willard’s repressed sexuality. Willard works in a low-level position at his office, facing constant humiliation and mistreatment by his superiors and coworkers, brilliantly led by Ernest Borgnine. He is seen as “a mummy’s boy”, “a weakling”, and “over-sensitive” by the men around him, while females treat him as a mere boy.
As Willard befriends the rats surrounding his gothic mansion, he finds solace and companionship free from human judgment and power, enabling him to wreak havoc on those persecuting him. Mann’s movie tiptoes around the question of whether Willard is gay. Yet it also explores the feelings of so many young men who hide their authentic selves as they navigate a heteronormative world. Like many early queer subtext horrors, the movie’s final scenes are devastating, as young Willard’s journey to self-acceptance is cut short as he attempts to move away from the family of rats who initially gave him freedom.
Willard was remade in 2003 with Crispin Blunt in the central role. Still, it’s Mann’s delicate psychological horror that shines, as Davison skillfully explores the psyche of a lost and lonely boy seeking freedom, liberation, and escape in all the wrong places.
Willard is available to stream and buy.
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