HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Welcome back to Rotten Ink, and boy do we have a fun and over the top “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” for you readers this time as we will be talking about Willy’s Wonderland, a very cool indie horror film that takes things like pizza restaurant “Chuck E. Cheese” and game series “Five Nights At Freddy’s” to more of the extreme and dashes in Satan and flesh eating for good measure! The film was a cult classic out of the gate and over the years gains more and more fans thanks to home media, streaming and the horror comic mini series we will be taking a look at here. For me Willy’s Wonderland is such a fun and creepy watch as I grew up going to birthday parties as places like Showbiz Pizza and Check E. Cheese that had animatronic characters singing and entertaining the customers. So if you are ready, let’s order a pizza and some soda and grab a table as Willy and his friends are about to perform and put on one killer show, and I am sure that we will have a bloody good time.
The Animatronics with the souls of dead serial killers are the villains of this series and are lead by Willy Weasel and his friends include Tito Turtle, Knighty Knight, Arty Alligator, Siren Sara, Cammy Chameleon, Gus Gorilla and Ozzie Ostrich and they are twisted and cold blooded and love to kill. Willy and his demonic animatronic crew have many ways to deal death as many have sharp claws and sharp teeth or beaks that very quickly rip and tear flesh and with these tools, they can dispatch a human very easy from major loss of blood and guts being removed with brutal fury. They also eat the human flesh and that is what helps keep them alive. In the case of Knighty Knight, he has a sword that he uses to cut off body parts or even just rams it through your body and do to his power he can deal death blows with one movement. While many of them are also strong, it’s Gus Gorilla who has more strength and can break bones and squeeze the life right out of you. While Cammy Chameleon can use her tongue to wrap around victims as well as can choke them to death and snap necks. While most of them are slow moving Siren Sara is fast and can use her speed to trap and murder her prey. And let’s not also rule out their appearance as its frightful and causes people to freeze in fear as well as cannot believe what is coming at them. They are also very sneaky and use their tricks in order to snag and kill their targets including the gift of manipulation. They can and will also kill and attack in groups but are just as deadly on their own. They are also Satanic and get their powers from a pact they made with the Devil making them very evil and mean spirited. But they are not immortal and can be killed by all sorts of ways with ripping of their heads being a big way to kill them you can also smash, crush, blow up, run over and dismember them and that will stop them as well. But while they can be defeated, Willy and his gang are very dangerous and could rank high for their killing ways in the world of From Horror Movie To Horror Comic updates.
So as you can see, Willy Weasel and his friends are killing machines and can take a human life in seconds and enjoy doing so as they eat the flesh and guts of their victims. But it’s now time to talk about the film Willy’s Wonderland that Willy Weasel is from and this is going to be a fun one! Like always, we will be taking the film’s write up from our pals at IMDB and then I will write about the film’s production as well as my thoughts of the film. So if you are ready, let’s find our chairs as Willy and his friends are about to put on a show.
Willy’s Wonderland (2021)
“A quiet loner finds himself stranded in a remote town when his car breaks down. Unable to pay for the repairs he needs, he agrees to spend the night cleaning Willy’s Wonderland, an abandoned family fun center. But this wonderland has a dark secret that the “The Janitor” is about to discover. He soon finds himself trapped inside Willy’s and locked in an epic battle with the possessed animatronic mascots that roam the halls. To survive, he must fight his way through each of them.”
G.O. Parsons worked on a horror script that was called “Wally’s Wonderland” and placed it on the website Blood List that is a website that industry workers can take a look at and vote on scripts in the horror and sci-fi genres. And that is when Screen Media Films as well as actor Nicolas Cage would step in to help produce and distribute the film, and Cage would even come on board to act in the film. Also on board were producers Jeremy Davis and Grant Cramer, and the film was gaining major attention from fans as well as horror news websites and building it up already to become a cult classic. The film would also get a name changed to “Willy’s Wonderland” and some of the killer animatronics would also change. The film would get a budget of $5 million and filming would start in February 2020 and took place in Atlanta, Georgia and a closed bowling alley was used as Willy’s Wonderland restaurant. Actors brought in include Emily Tosta, Ric Reitz, Caylee Cowan, Beth Grant and Chris Warner, to name a few. Once the film was ready it was scored by Emoi and it would have a limited theatrical run on February 12, 2021 and would bring in around $457,144.00 worldwide and would find cult statues via home media and streaming. The film was released that year alongside other horror films like Werewolves Within, The Night House, Antlers, Malignant, The Unholy and Halloween Kills to name a few. The film was meet with mixed reviews by critics and had better reviews by fans and the feedback also has sparked talks of a sequel that could be made in the future.
Willy’s Wonderland is one heck of a fun and gory film that packs in blood kills, creepy killer animatronics characters and even Nicolas Cage turns in a great mute performance as the badass Janitor. This was a film that I sadly missed when it had a limited run in the theaters and to be honest I am not sure what theater around here even showed it. I had to wait for the film to come to home media before seeing it, and I have to say I was a fan from the very start as you can never go wrong with a film that has killer animatronic characters running wild in a rundown fast food joint. And I have to say at first I was not going to give the film a watch as I was so sick of all the Nicolas Cage memes and how he became every ones “favorite” actor for his over the top performances and before this odd movie roles and spending choices. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Nicolas Cage and enjoy many of his moves over the years like Raising Arizona, Vampire’s Kiss, Con Air, 8mm and more, what I had an issue with was the mocking fan base who made him into a walking internet meme. For having a low budget, I feel the film did a great job of creating gore effects as well as the costumes for the killer mascots, not to even mention that the score and music by Emoi is well done and super fitting as you have to love a movie that has a theme song that is about the film and uses the title as the chorus. I also have to point out that when seeing this film actress Caylee Cowan who plays the character Kathy Barnes blew my mind on just how pretty she is and is fantastic in her role. While of course Willy Weasel is my favorite of the baddies I would say that Knighty Knight would be my next as he reminds me of a mascot I would have seen at Burger King or even a Put-Put Golf course when I was a kid, plus he has a massive sword and likes to slice and dice with it. And while I like Willy and Knighty, I have to stress I find all of the bad guy characters interesting. Can we also talk about the fact that the town allows people to die and be eaten by Willy in order to keep him in check, and that everyone seems to be in on this besides the town’s kids as the sheriff, mechanic and building owner are trick people into going inside knowing they will never get out alive…now that is truly a town with a big dirty secret. Man it seems like I have a lot to say about Willy’s Wonderland but I will wrap it up with it’s a fun film that deserves its cult following and I hope that a sequel is made soon as I would love to see it.
As you can see, Willy Weasel and his friends are one mean pack of killers who love to kill and eat their victims and you can also see that the film is a modern cult classic because it brings something fun to the killer machine subgenre. But now it’s time to take a look at the comic series and I would like to thank Game Swap Kettering having these issues in stock and making this update possible. And I also want to thank American Mythology Comics for making this comic as well as so many other series that are based on horror films and giving is horror comic readers some amazing stuff to read. I want to remind you all that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So if you are ready, let’s head into Willy’s Wonderland for some cheap food, but I think we should stay away from the Super Happy Fun Room.
Willy’s Wonderland # 1 ***
Released in 2021 Cover Price $3.99 American Mythology # 1 of 4
Three homeless people have made a shelter out of Willy’s Wonderland to escape the rain and to have a place to eat, when they are attacked, killed and eaten by Willy Weasel and his friends. A few years later Tex Macadoo has bought Willy’s Wonderland to reopen and has even hired Jeb Love to work maintenance on the animatronics and holds a sneak peek for the press and some families before that nights grand opening and the towns Sheriff as well as Deputy Eloise Lund think opening this place is a bad idea after all the murders that took place inside those walls. Once inside Knighty Knight almost chops in half a parent who just in time ducked down to tie his shoe, and no one noticed this besides the man son and Tex who ushers people out and Jeb goes to work on Knighty. The staff of Willy’s Wonderland go to work on cleaning up and getting ready for the night, when Bella who is also the young lover of Tex is killed by Willy and his friends to make a point to Tex who is then informed by Jeb that the spirits of the past owner and workers all who were murders are in side the animatronics and they need to be feed with human flesh or the whole town is in trouble and Willy Weasel is pure evil. Throughout this we also get flashbacks to killer Jerry Robert Willis who would become Willy Weasel and the past owner and Sara a dancer who killed her cheating husband and his mistress and she would go on to become Siren Sara.
The first issue of Willy’s Wonderland is a great read and does a great job of being the prequel to the film as we get to see a few of the kills that happen before the film as well as we get a look at the evil satanic killers that’s spirits end up in the animatronic characters at the restaurant. The plot of the issue is about Tex Macadoo opening back up Willy’s Wonderland after a series of murders and disappearances, only to learn that the place houses Willy Weasel and his friends who are the vessels for the spirits of satanic killers that use to work and own the restaurant. Tex Macadoo is a man who had big dreams of making big money, but soon finds out that he has instead opened a nightmare for those who come to eat and play games there as well as he now has a curse on his hands. Jeb Love who is the town’s mechanic as well as maintenance guy for the reopened Willy’s and is also the one who figures out and has to tell Tex about Willy and his flesh eating friends. Willy Weasel and his friends are very cold blooded and enjoy killing and eating their victims and do so very mean spirited, they in fact kill a young female staff member just to show Tex that they mean business and need to feed and need to kill. I really like that they give the backstory for Jerry Robert Willis who was a serial killer of families that he would trick them by acting as if he is a photographer of family portraits, and then he would butcher them all…he of course would end up becoming Willy Weasel. We also get a look at Sara who was a dancer who during a performance learns that her lover is cheating on her with another dancer and she kills them both and shows off their bodies on stage. We also see that Jerry and Sara both are at the same mental asylum and are becoming friends as they are both monsters inside. The issue is filled with lots of blood and gore that will surely make Horror Comic readers happy. The cover is great and very eye catching for the fans of the film and the interior art done by Puis Calzada is top notch as I like the way he draws Willy and his friends as well as the brutal killings the commit. Over all this is a great first issue and has me hooked on wanting to see what is next.
Willy’s Wonderland # 2 ***
Released in 2021 Cover Price $3.99 American Mythology # 2 of 4
Business is going good at the newly reopened Willy’s Wonderland but reports of people going missing in the town start going around including one man who Willy Weasel kills outback behind the restaurant. The Sheriff and Deputy come to investigate and Tex makes up a story and they leave him be for the time being. Meanwhile a little later another staff worker that is cleaning the bathroom is brutally killed by Tito Turtle and Arty Alligator as they are hungry and he was in the wrong place at the right time for them as it was lunchtime! Meanwhile a rich man comes in with lots of money and wants to rent Willy’s Wonderland for the night in order for his Grandson and his friends to have a sleepover for his Birthday…Tex agrees but knows this is a bad idea. While the party is going on, one of the female staff is having to chase around some kids and when they get away she is killed by Siren Sara. And a little later Jed locks two parents who are complaining about the pizza in a closet were they are murdered by Knighty Knight and Cammy Chameleon, as they are hungry and just want to kill. But things go really wrong when the Birthday Cake comes out and is a severed head and Willy Weasel and the rest of his friends go on a killing spree killing kids, parents and staff in a blood frenzy. Two staff members escape as does Tex and Jed, and when the Sheriff shows up he warns Tex that he can not cover up this slaughter and that the restaurant is now closed for good. We also are treated to the human background stories of Arty Alligator, Gus Gorilla and Cammy Chameleon.
The body count rises, and Willy Weasel and his friends are more blood thirsty in this second issue of Willy’s Wonderland! The plot of this issue has a sleepover-taking place at the restaurant and what should be a happy birthday party with friends and family together turns into a bloodbath when Willy and the rest need to feed on flesh and chaos. And this issue is filled with lots of blood and gore that includes people being ripped in two, flesh is bitten off and people are chopped in half by a sword…as you can see this one is filled with violence. The backstories we get in this issue are also very interesting as we get a look at the humans that would become the killer animatronics. Gus Gorilla is a man who worked at the zoo who is pushed to hard by his boss who likes to call him names plus miss treats him, and she then finds herself being punched to death till her face caves in. We also see that Cammy Chameleon is a woman in the Asylum that has split personalities. And we see that Arty Alligator was a serial killer who after murdering people would use their blood to paint pictures on the walls. We also see that these three end up becoming friends with Jerry Robert Willis and Sara in the asylum and that Jerry is having control over them and has them play twisted games while locked up. Tex Macadoo makes a big mistake in this issue as he knows that Willy wants to kill and has been killing but because of money he allows a over night birthday party to take place at the restaurant and this leads to a lot of people dying. It’s also made clear that Tex and Jed are paying off the Sheriff in order to not look to deep into the missing person cases that are happing and that the police force is as greedy as Tex is. The cover is very cool and features Gus Gorilla and Tito Turtle and connects to issue one to build a scene of the stage. Once more the interior art is done by Puis Calzada and is great stuff as once more the way he draws Willy and friends is great, plus he sure can draw some crazy murder! Another fun, spooky, gory and simple issue that does Willy’s Wonderland the film justice, let’s see what issue three has in store for us.
Willy’s Wonderland # 3 ***
Released in 2022 Cover Price $3.99 American Mythology # 3 of 4
At the home of the man who has been hired to demolish the Willy’s Wonderland building they are attacked and killed brutally by Gus Gorilla, Tito Turtle and Cammy Chameleon as they are not going to allow their home and feeding ground to be destroyed. A few nights later The Sheriff and Deputy Lund head to Willy’s and find Tex Macadoo inside dirty and very much in distress over the slaughter that took place there and that he witnessed, the officers get him out of the building as Willy watches them do so from the shadows. But the town is now a slaughter house as Willy sends his friends out to kill and feast on the townspeople with Tito Turtle and Arty Alligator killing the hardware store owner, Knighty Knight and Cammy Chameleon kill the ice cream man, Siren Sara and Gus Gorilla kills the High School Janitor and his lady and finally Willy along with all the others head to the basketball game and kill and attack the players as well as the fans and are chased off by The Sheriff and Deputy who now know they have to head to Willy’s Wonderland and fight with these monsters. Tex wakes up in the garage of Jed who informs him that this nightmare is far from over while the surviving staff get together and arm themselves as they want to bring down Willy for taking their friends life. We also get the human background story for Knight Knight, Tito Turtle and Ozzie Ostrich plus we get to see how Jerry Robert Willis is able to get more and more psychos in his group from the asylum.
The third issue is very entertaining as the plot has Willy Weasel and his friends going on a killing rampage in the town to show that they mean business and that no one will ever destroy their home and hunting ground and if something does happen then they will be free roaming in the town killing anyone they want. Poor Tex Macadoo is really upset about the massacre that took place at his restaurant and is drinking his sorrows away, but is more horrified when he learns that he will have to keep helping them feed. A cool subplot that is happening as well is the two staff that survived the massacre gearing up in order to avenge their friends by killing Willy and the gang. Willy Weasel is clearly calling the shots as he sends his friends out in groups in order to kill as many people as possible that night and you can tell he is doing so to prove that he is in charge and that the humans need to also live in fear of his wrath and hunger. Siren Sara also shows that she is a cold blooded killing machine as between her and Gus Gorilla I think they seem to be having the most fun killing. This issue is very bloody and is packed with gore and kills and some of downright gruesome as one kill has them using a ice cream scoop on the eyes of a victim with another having Willy smash in a basketball players face with a basketball. The human origin stories we get this issue are for Ozzie Ostrich who was a killer that choked his victims to death due to the abuse he suffered at the hands of his mother. We see that Knighty Knight worked at a renascence festival and finally snaps from taking verbal abuse from some of the guests and snaps and kills them with his sword. And we see that Tito Turtle was a field worker who killed all his sleeping co-workers one night. And with them Jerry Robert Willis has seven followers who he friends them all do to their killing ways. The cover is another great one that fits in with the first two issues to build the stage and on this issue the main focus is Knighty Knight and Cammy Chameleon. The interior art is done by Puis Calzada and is great stuff like before and more Horror Comic publishers should be hiring this guy. Another fantastic issue, and I cannot wait to see what the next issue has in store for us as we know a big clash is bout to go down!
Willy’s Wonderland # 4 ***
Released in 2022 Cover Price $3.99 American Mythology # 4 of 4
The Sheriff, Deputy Lund and Tex gets the town people together all armed and head into Willy’s Wonderland in order to get revenge for all the killings, but they are unprepared as Willy Weasel and his friends slaughter everyone including the two surviving staff members and they make sure to do so in very bloody and sick ways almost tormenting and taunting people as they murder them. Once inside Jed Love arrives as Willy Weasel and his friends stand behind him and he tells Tex and Deputy Lund the other two survivors that it’s simple if they all want to live all they need to do is feed them buy giving them people and in front of them gives Willy and the rest a family…but not before Lund takes the young girl from the sacrificed family as she can not bare for her to be slaughtered. In the end some time has passed and Jed with the help of Tex and now Sheriff Lund bring a man to Willy’s Wonderland after he ran over a bed of nails. The man is clearly the brother of The Janitor who is the lead character in the film. This issue also showcases how Jerry Robert Willis along with the rest of his psycho friends are able to escape the asylum and by doing so they kill a ton of nurses, orderlies and even the Doctor before stealing a truck and making the big break were they find the building and plan on opening Willy’s Wonderland.
This is truly the final showdown between the town and the evils of Willy’s Wonderland that sadly ends with evil being the winner as Willy Weasel and his friends massacre everyone who goes against them and then forces those who survive that have some sort of power to now work for them by bringing them people to kill and eat. Willy Weasel is a true evil mastermind as he both as a human and as a killer animatronic called all the shots of his friends who will do whatever he orders and he really is a very dangerous and evil person or should I say thing? His friends as well are all very dangerous with each of them having their own ways of dealing death to victims and I would say that Siren Sara, Gorilla Gus, Knighty Knight and Tito Turtle are some of the more violent ones with all the others following behind them with Arty Alligator almost being in this series one of the most violent as he even at one point drives an axe into the skull of a man. Finally in this issue as well the Sheriff and Tex Macadoo try and do the right thing after three issues of allowing money to control their bad decisions that lead to many people dying. It’s odd that in the comic series Jed Love is very much connected to Willy Weasel and his friends and almost seems like he is friends with them and is not bothered by feeding them people, when in the movie he almost seems like he hated what he had to do and feared them. It’s also interesting to watch Eloise Lund go from hero Deputy to by the end becoming Sheriff and going along with the idea of leading people into Willy’s grip. Plus we have to mention that its clear that The Janitor’s brother was a victim of Willy Weasel and maybe that is why he was driving around that part of the state as he might have been looking for his brother, and for those who don’t know The Janitor is the character Nicolas Cage plays in the movie. The issue is very bloody and gore filled as is the whole series, and it does a good job of doing the film justice even though it does make some changes when it comes to the looks of the killers that would become the animatronic killers as the comic and film versions look very different from each other. The cover for this issue is cool and is the final part of the stage and shows Arty Alligator and Siren Sara being all murderous, and once more Puis Calzada does the interior art and it’s fantastic stuff. I think that Willy’s Wonderland makes for a great comic series, and I hope that more issues are released in the future as this film’s character make for great source material for quality Horror Comics. Check out some of the artwork below to see the style used by Puis Calzada in this mini series.
As you can see, Willy’s Wonderland made for a great horror comic mini-series, and it did a great job of also showing the history of the human versions of the killers and tells about their horrific crimes that lead them into an asylum and into the grips of the future Willy Weasel. And I have to give American Mythology one more shout out for being a cool indie comic company and doing these comic based on all types of horror films. If you have not read these comics, go check them out as I think if you are a fan of the film you will really enjoy this series, and if you have not seen the film ,make sure to do so as it’s a fun bloody ride. Well now that we have escaped Willy’s Wonderland and have drunk a few Punch Soda’s I think I should let you know that our next update will keep with the Spooky Horror Theme as we will be talking about my best Horror Games Countdown for the Sony Playstation! So until next time, read a horror comic or three, watch a horror film or two and as always support your local Horror Host. Man I cannot wait for the next update as talking about horror video games is a perfect way to kick off our countdown to Thanksgiving right?
