This month, I wanted to find something absurd. Furthermore, I wanted to find something that wholeheartedly engages in its absurdity. I found that with much more ease than I would have imagined. Welcome to Willits is a ridiculous movie with a ridiculous presence, and is aware of this from beginning to end.

Conspiracy theories are a guilty pleasure of mine. I believe next to none of them, but I indulge myself in them whenever the fancy strikes me. Welcome to Willits is a movie all about conspiracy theories, specifically those involving aliens.

Alien invasion movies are in no short supply. Just on Netflix, you can find over a dozen with ease. Welcome to Willits takes alien invasion a step further, or rather, backward, as the movie’s central theme is that the aliens aren’t real.

The premise of Welcome to Willits is that a man makes a particularly potent and off-recipe strain of meth that can cause people to believe in aliens and hallucinate their presence, so much that he believes he’s been abducted himself. This leads him to become paranoid and delusional, and when he crosses paths with the stereotype trespassing teenagers, things get gory.

I appreciate that Welcome to Willits plays its premise straight while peppering in obvious jokes about its absurdity. Plenty of weird, comedic characters litter the movie. It’s a treat on that front through and through.

Welcome to Willits, however, isn’t a movie you’re going to be praising for its protagonists or plot, or anything beyond its silliness. I think that’s intentional. The movie feels like it was pulled from 70s and 80s B-horror, and that’s really fun, especially to watch with a friend who shares that interest.

What I can say is I enjoyed Welcome to Willits. For the 80 minutes I spent on it, I don’t feel I was cheated of a better experience. I don’t think I’ll ever watch it again, though. And that’s okay. We need movies like that. Ones that we can watch, have a few laughs, and then forget about.

Overall Personal Rating: 5.5/10

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-Vincent

© 2019 Vincent C. Russo. All Rights Reserved. This post is intended for review and constitutes fair use. These films and any images used belong to their respective owners.