Willy’s Wonderland (Collector’s Edition) [4K Ultra HD]

Director: Kevin Lewis

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Emily Tosta, Beth Grant

Release Date: February 13, 2024

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Disc Rating: 6.5/10

Synopsis:

A quiet drifter (Nicolas Cage) finds himself stranded in a remote town when his car breaks down. Taking on a janitorial job at the now-condemned Willy’s Wonderland seems like an easy way to earn some cash … but the mundane task suddenly becomes an all-out fight for survival when he must do battle with wave after wave of demonic, murderous animatronics.

Please Note: Shout! Studios provided me with a free copy of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

‘Willy’s Wonderland’ accompanies a quiet drifter who after suffering vehicle damage while driving through a small town is forced to accept a janitorial job cleaning up an abandoned family restaurant in exchange for his car repairs when he is unable to pay for the work thanks in part to the town’s absence of internet. But what the man doesn’t realize is that the animatronic characters that still reside within are far more than lifeless robots and he quickly discovers that each is ready to try and kill him without any warning. Meanwhile, a group of local kids intent on stopping the reign of terror caused by the restaurant and its animatronic inhabitants plan to set fire to the building, but first they need to get the janitor out. Unfortunately for them, this man has no plans of leaving and is more than happy accomplishing the work he agreed to while fighting the animatronics along the way when necessary.

‘Willy’s Wonderland’ delivers a bloody, goofy and frequently hilarious good time that’s as ridiculous as it is violent and only greatly boosted by a marvelously over the top performance by Nicolas Cage that is an absolute delight in itself to witness. Borrowing from the animatronic creepiness of certain popular family eateries and then taking things to a sinister level that leaves little doubt to the intentions of the animatronic stars, it then sends in Cage to dispatch many of the villainous bots with a quiet edge and almost unspoken glee that will have viewers cringing one moment and laughing at its intended silliness the next. It all comes together into a wildly enjoyable B-Movie that may not be anything monumental or award-worthy, but that effortlessly serves up a refreshingly short (at least these days) ninety minute ride into chaos that’s an awful lot of fun to take and never gets dull or uninteresting along its course. For those that tend to enjoy an intentionally silly and consistently violent genre flick that shifts between action, comedy and horror quite regularly throughout, ‘Willy’s Wonderland’ should be right up your alley and is well worth giving a whirl if you haven’t already had the pleasure.

‘Willy’s Wonderland’ is directed by Kevin Lewis from a screenplay written by G.O. Parsons, and Lewis does a nice job at the helm of the film embracing the goofy tone and violent atmosphere without any hesitation throughout. The film stars Nicolas Cage, Emily Tosta, Beth Grant, Ric Reitz and Chris Warner along with a few more and each contribute decent enough performances for the most part in their respective roles, although Cage repeatedly steals the show with his wildly over the top portrayal of the silent drifter.

Shout! Studios and Scream Factory bring home ‘Willy’s Wonderland’ for the first time on 4K Ultra HD disc in a new Collector’s Edition release that features a new Ultra High Definition video presentation with Dolby Vision and HDR-10 that provides a new, gorgeous look to the film that’s sharper and smoother than before, with improved colors and detail throughout. The new UHD video presentation is nicely complemented by a 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack which may not be new per say, but certainly holds up well regardless and shouldn’t leave fans disappointed. While the new Collector’s Edition release does include some brief extras in the way of Behind the Scenes Featurettes and a few other offerings, some fans may be slightly disappointed with just how minimal the extras are, not to mention that they are all previously released extras that were included on Screen Media’s original Blu-ray release of the movie. Diehard fans of the film that are fully 4K capable may still want to consider picking up a copy of this one though simply for the rather gorgeous new 4K video presentation with Dolby Vision, especially if you can find it at the right price.

VIDEO:

The Scream Factory Collector’s Edition 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Willy’s Wonderland’ features a full 2160p Ultra High Definition presentation with Dolby Vision and HDR-10, with the film’s original 2.35:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks rather solid as a whole and delivers a clean, sharp and richly detailed presentation from start to finish that never suffers from any noticeable issues or encoding faults to be uncovered along the way. Improved detail is evident on character faces and clothing (including the animatronics), in addition to the interior and exterior settings, along with plenty more. The Dolby Vision HDR nicely complements it all throughout by providing a cleaner, sharper and more accurate color palette that repeatedly stands out. Overall, this is a very nice new Ultra High Definition video presentation that should have fans of this goofy and violent good time quite thrilled.

AUDIO:

The Collector’s Edition 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release features a 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This multichannel soundtrack does its job well and offers a clean, crisp and at times quite immersive audio presentation throughout. It utilizes all five available channels repeatedly throughout in order to send music, along with action effects, bits of chatter and more throughout the various speakers whenever appropriate, while always making certain that any dialogue or other audio elements that may be occurring simultaneously remain clean and fully audible. Overall, this is a solid 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack that nicely complements the onscreen fun and chaos and shouldn’t disappoint.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Scream Factory Collector’s Edition 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Willy’s Wonderland’ features some brief Featurettes and other extras that were also included on the initial Blu-ray release of the film. Included are the behind the scenes Featurettes ‘Willy’s Wonderland: Inside the Fun’ (running approximately 7 minutes in length), ‘Willy’s Wonderland: Fresh Meat’ (running approximately 1 minute), ‘Willy’s Wonderland: Colorful Darkness and the Demon-Atrons’ (approximately 2 minutes), along with a ‘Set Tour with Christian DelGrosso’ (approximately 2 minutes). Also included on the release is the film’s ‘Trailer’ (2 minutes) in addition to a ‘Character Teaser Gallery’ and a ‘Character Poster Gallery’.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray disc included in the release and resized. They do not represent the quality of the 4K Ultra HD disc itself and will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Disc Rating: 6.5/10

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‘Willy’s Wonderland’ Arrives Home in a 2-Disc 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Collector’s Edition on February 13, 2024 from Scream Factory!

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You can purchase your copy of the ‘Willy’s Wonderland: 4K UHD Collector’s Edition’ on Amazon HERE or purchase it directly from Shout Studios HERE!

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