Les willies

Starring Sean (Lord Of The Rings, Goonies) Astin this anthology is a curious creature as it only has two stories plus the wrap around.

Rather light hearted and more in the vein of Goosebumps this is suitable for more or less all ages.

The first story is about a monster residing the toilets of a school and the other regarding a weird kid whose hobby is pulling wings off flies and making them into characters in his dioramas.

Though looking very dated and with some appalling sfx the movie certainly has its charm but definitely shouldn't be confused with a horror.

Watchable though predictable stuff, the second story is at least rather disturbing.

The Good:

Clu Galager

Sean Astin

Second story gets under your skin

The Bad:

Looks rather tacky

Should have been at least three stories

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

A 3rd mini story in the opening of the film was removed due to being considered distasteful which involved a poodle and a microwave

My review was written in January 1991 after watching the film on Prism video cassette.

"The Willies" is an uneven anthology horror opus that shows more creativity in the creatures department than in the writing. It's a video release aimed at younger patrons than usual for the genre.

Tipoff ias to where filmmaker Brian Peck is headed is the preponderance of youngsters in the cast. Pic opens with kids, led by Patty Duke & John Astins' talented son Sean Astin, swapping tales on a camping trip to try and gross one another out.

During a very lengthy pre-credits sequence (lasting 10 minutes), rather lame tales unfold, including a fat lady getting served a fried rat in her bucket of chicken, and a woman unwisely drying off her bathed poodle in a microwave oven.

Film proper has its high point in "Flyboy", a weird tale of a boy (Michael Bower) infatuated with collecting flies. A neighboring farmer invents a spectacular form of fertilizer that creates giant flies, which attack Bower in the scary climax.

Less thrilling is "Bad Apples", in which a stop-motion monster haunts the boys' room at an elementary school.

Technical credits and cast are above average in this not-ready-for-theatrical-release effort.

this movie is basically about two brothers and their cousin who decide to scare each other by telling each other spooky urban legends while camping out.i guess you could compare it the TV shows Goosebumps or Are You Afraid of the Dark,although it's not as good as either of those two.anyway,what follows are two separate tales.the first one is pretty good.it's sort of a black comedy.it is quite amusing,and compelling.plus,it is well written.the second of the tales is not so good.much of the odd behaviour and events are given no reason or explanation.also this tale is boring and feels way too long.the ending makes no sense and doesn't tie into the rest of the story.long story short,the first tale is good-second one-not so much.for me,this movie is a 5/10

This is a very funny movie. It is about these 2 brothers camping out with their cousin played by Sean Astin, they decide to tell scary stories, the first one is about this woman the goes into a chicken restaurant and orders a bucket of chicken and when she takes her first bite she notices that it doesn't taste like chicken she looks and its a big rat that she took a bite out of. the second one is about a old man that goes on a haunted house ride and dies of a heart attack. the next story is about a woman that dries her wet poodle off in the microwave after giving it a bath in the kitchen sink. the next 2 stories are the main stories of the movie. the 1st one is about a monster living above a boys bathroom in an elementary school. The second is about a boy that has a weird hobby collecting flies and doing stuff with them. If your looking for a movie that is funny and scary you should check out the Willies because this movie is funny and scary.

"The Willies" is sort of an "Urban Legend" for kids trying to gross each other out. Sean Astin and two other boys are camping out and tell each other a bunch of nasty stories. This was actually the first time that I'd ever heard of the woman microwaving her dog; I was surprised when I later learned that it's a fairly common urban legend. The movie itself first portrays a school where the janitor (James Karen) turns out to be a hideous monster...fortunately, not totally malevolent. The next half portrays a boy who gets a little too obsessed with bugs.

Yes, it's probably one of the sillier movies out there. But it knows that it is just that, so there's no problem. Sean Astin shows the same flair that he'd shown in "The Goonies" and would later show in the "Lord of the Rings" movies. Worth seeing.

PS: In case you don't recognize James Karen, he most recently starred in "The Pursuit of Happiness". He also starred in "All the President's Men", "Poltergeist" and "Return of the Living Dead" 1 and 2.