Lee Eisenberg "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.

Backlash007 ~Spoiler~ The Willies is a film that I would have had a greater appreciation for if I discovered it when I was 10. It's just too silly, only a kid could enjoy it. The first part of the movie sets up our wraparound story concerning Sean Astin and his cousins telling spooky stories in a tent. My favorite line is spoken here towards Astin's character: "Wait...this isn't that dumb story about the time you and your friends found that pirate ship in an old cave?" You gotta love Goonies references. The first actual story is the best one, by leaps and bounds. It's titled Bad Apples and concerns a janitor that goes from school to school devouring bullies. The second story, Flyboy, goes on forever! This one involves a kid that has a truly creepy obsession with flies. It could have been easily skimmed down and we could have had a real anthology here instead of just the two stories. An interesting bit of trivia about The Willies is all of the Return of the Living Dead alumni. It features Dana Ashbrook who starred in RotLD 2, Clu Gulager puts in a cameo, James Karen stars as the janitor, and Brian "Scuz" Peck wrote and directed the film. Also, keep an eye out for all of the Growing Pains kids.

Pepper Anne The Willies is the poor man's Creepshow. Three kids sitting around the midnight campfire need to entertain themselves. Before the opening credits even roll (I mean, when the title does finally appear on screen), we get about ten minutes of "what's grosser than gross" stories and bad jokes. A lady microwaving her dog, an old man scared to death by the walking dead at a cheap recreation of Disney's Haunted Mansion, and a fat fast foodie woman who bites into a latex rat. Big deal. It's a pretty lame waste of time while you're waiting around for the writers to finally get to the point.And as it is introduced, these stories are guaranteed to give you "The Willies." Though in reality, unless you scare very easily (including the P-13 audience that this movie caters to), then you're probably not going to get anything more than a pain in the brain. Although, the first one will probably entertain the kiddies enough if you've ever had a bully or a teacher that didn't like you. That's the foundation for the first story, a janitor who turns into a big ugly monster. And when this dorky little kid (and believe me, this kid is king nerd), can't convince anyone that he saw a monster in the bathroom, people go investigating it for themselves. And the consequences aren't pretty. Well, at least not unless you're like the dorky little kid and enjoy seeing your tormentors get eaten by the beast. Fine.But the second story was just too weird to enjoy. "Donkeylips" from Salute Your Shorts fame (Michael Bower) plays an obnoxious super-weird kid who goes poking around some senile man's yard. The guy has a genetically engineered fertilizer that is guaranteed to improve the growth of anything you use it for. Bower plays a creepy bug obsessed kid with a penchant for making friends with flies, which he has created a super race of thanks to the fertilizer that he kept them in. To top off a weird story is a stupid ending. I'm not even sure kids could enjoy that one, except to see giant human-sized flies running about. This movie is a real turkey, even if Sean Astin or Jeremy Miller are in it (notice how they conveniently reference to Growing Pains in the 'fly' story), and possibly not good enough to be the best worst movie. If it's PG-13 horror you're looking for, I'd recommend passing it up. If these are the stories you enjoy, get a good fright (and a good laugh) with Stephen King's Creepshow series.

FredKruegerFan1 OK, it starts out with short stories, gory, yes. Gross, yes. Any good? Watch. Next we get to the main stories. The first one, scary, original, and funny. It's about a janitor who is really a monster and eats bad kids. The second story, long, stupid, wrong, sick, and boring. It's about Gordy Blecher who is in love with dead fly's. Good for the most part, and it is watchable, intil the end. *** out of ***** Good