By Cat
Movie Name/Year: Welcome to Willits (2017)
Tagline: Not your typical cabin in the woods story...
Genre:
Length: 84 minutes
Rating: TV-MA
Production Companies: IFC Films, Yale Productions, SSS Entertainment, BondIt, Real Horror Show Pictures
Producers: Brandon Baker, Leslie Cimino, Jonah Fuller, Matthew Helderman, Jon Keeyes, Jesse Korman, Scott Levenson, Serge Levin, Jordan Yale Levine, Jonathan Lipnicki, Joe Listhaus, Amanda Ramirez, Michael J. Rothstein, Jonathan Ryan, Tim Ryan, Amar Sanghani, Shaun Sanghani, Richard Switzer, Luke Taylor
Director: Trevor Ryan
Writer: Tim Ryan
Actors: Bill Sage, Anastasia Baranova, Garrett Clayton, Dolph Lundgren, Sabina Gadecki, Chris Zylka, Rory Culkin, Karrueche Tran, Keelin Woodell, Thomas Dekker
Stunts: Jim Henry
Blurb from Netflix: A marijuana farmer's extraterrestrial paranoia creates trouble for a group of young campers who pitch their tent on his land in Northern California.
Cat's Point of View:
Holy crap!
That’s my general reaction to most of this movie. I laughed,
gasped, cringed, and face-palmed my way through this unexpected gem of a film.
I remembered that I’d wanted to see this one back when
reviewing its trailer for Top 20 contention, so when I ran across it today on
Netflix, I couldn’t resist. Not only did the movie have recognizable actors
such as Chris Zylka (The Amazing
Spider-Man, Bare, The Leftovers), Thomas Dekker (Kaboom, The Secret Circle, Plush), and Karrueche Tran (The Fright Night Files, The Nice Guys, The
Bay); but also Dolph Lundgren (Legendary,
Shark Lake, Don't Kill It).
I am totally a sucker for Dolph Lundgren movies. His more
recent fare tends to be interesting and quirky b-movie material or action
nostalgia. Considering I like both, it’s usually a safe bet. I was a little
disappointed that he didn’t have a bigger role in this one, but his part
certainly wasn’t insignificant.
I was pleasantly surprised to see Rory Culkin (Scream 4, Jack Goes Home, Sneaky Pete)
in this romp through madness and paranoia. His character teetered on the edge
of both a voice of realism and reason and conspiracy theorist nuttery.
What makes this even better, for me at least, is that it was
filmed right here in Louisiana – partially in Shreveport, even. I had entirely
forgotten the local buzz from this movie’s filming. Though, there’s one odd
mention of Shreveport in the film which tipped me off to check the credits.
Funny enough, the movie’s set in California in a place that’s supposedly the ‘gateway
to the redwoods.’ The pine forests around here are full of trees far too skinny
to even be considered redwoods… but I digress.
The trees would really be the last thing on anyone’s mind in
this movie focused on aliens, pot farms, and campers (oh my!). In fact, the
more prevalent thought would likely be ‘what in the world?’
There are a few places where it was a little harder than
others to suspend disbelief but all-told, the film was a lot of fun and I liked
that they seemed to favor practical effects over CGI. I think it’d be fun to
watch again, sometime; and I wouldn’t have any problem recommending this movie.
Languages:
Speech Available: English
Subtitles Available:
Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 73%
Metascore - None
Metacritic User Score – None
IMDB Score – 4.3/10
Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 3.5/5
Movie Trailer:
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