These allusions work for the most part but Willard often plays out like a lame impersonation of a Tim Burton film. The film was shortly followed by its sequel, Ben, which featured the Oscar-nominated Don Black and Walter Scharf song of the same name that was made popular by the Jackson 5 and referenced some 25 years later by Pearl Jam in their song “Rats.” Gilbert (alias Gil Ralston) made quite a name for himself writing for television shows like “I Spy” and the ’80s installment of “Alfred Hitchock Presents.” These seemingly trivial details simultaneously highlight and burden 2003’s Willard, which stars Crispin Glover as the titular weirdo who summons the rats living inside his basement to kill his boss.ĭirector Glen Morgan’s update of the 1971 screenplay deliriously references everything from Psycho and The Birds to Black and Scharf’s classic song and the original version of the film (Davison appears in photographs as Glover’s deceased father). Stephen Gilbert’s novel Ratman’s Notebook inspired the relatively successful 1971 film Willard, the story of an introverted dweeb played by Bruce Davison who befriends a horde of rats and commands them to do his bidding.
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