Willard

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Year:	2003
Country of origin:	Canada / USA
Director:	Glen Morgan
Genre:	Rodent relationships
Starring:	Crispin Glover, R. Lee Ermey, Laura Harring, Jackie Burroughs
Rating:	4/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0310357/
Tagline:	This Spring Stand Up And Bite Back
Favourite line:	"Yes. Look at the rats... "

Oddball horror with a fantastic lead performance.

The plot:
Willard is a bit of a loner.
His father died some years ago, leaving Willard working at a manufacturing company, now run by the maniacal Mr. Martin, a job which he is contractually unable to be fired from.
His mother, still alive but desperately ill, is convinced there are rats in the basement. Willard investigates, and discovers that the old woman is right. To start with, he plans to kill them, but soon realises he can communicate with the rodents, and befriends one in particular, which he names Socrates.
But Socrates has a rival.
A large rat named Ben, jealous of Socrates standing, reluctantly cooperates to begin with but, when Socrates is killed, Ben convinces the other rats that Willard is to blame and, suddenly, the teeth and claws that once were his friends now turn against him, with deadly intentions.

As weird as pork with rhubarb sauce, Crispin Glover delivers perhaps the performance of his career as oddball Willard. Managing to convey loneliness, isolation and deep, deep love, sometimes all at the same time, Glover’s outing is a study in subtlety and outright weirdness.
Mingling CGI and live action seamlessly, the scenes with the rats are excellently crafted, and the director manages to imbue genuine personalities onto the furry little critters.
Ostensibly a horror movie, this is also a thriller, a black comedy, a coming of age drama and a tender love affair, albeit a platonic one – the unspoken love between a man and his rodent.
About as out there as American movies tend to get, this is one only fans of darkness should approach.
Bizarre, unpredictable and just plain otherworldly.
Enjoyed this one a lot.