Being a successful child star isn’t always a recipe for lifelong success. Many of them do not have successful careers as adults, and many others have gotten addicted to drugs or even arrested. This happens so often that some have speculated that there is a curse on child stars.
This is taken to the extreme in the horror short “Little Willy,” by Andrew Bowser. It is now streaming on Alter’s YouTube channel, and you can also watch it at the end of this article. It might inspire you to submit to the next Killer Shorts Horror Short Screenplay Competition.
The Plot
Adam Castle is a former child star, known for his role in the first two movies in a horror franchise called “Little Willy,” which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Child’s Play franchise. Now that he’s grown up, he is an alcoholic who is unsatisfied with his life.
He is now making appearances at a convention alongside the prop of the titular killer doll. However, the doll is now starting to make him feel uncomfortable, and he thinks he could hear it talking to him.
It Wasn’t Me! It Was Little Willy! I Swear!
This short deals with the “child star curse” as well as the struggles of an actor being known for only one role. Adam hears his fears and insecurities through the voice of the doll, until he actually starts to believe that the doll is alive, and it drives him to murder. And this is an interesting dynamic to show his struggles with himself.
This is all handled with an effective level of camp, particularly in a dream sequence around halfway through, and in Andrew Bowser’s unhinged performance as Adam near the end. However, there is very few outright attempts at humor, although the name “Little Willy” could be a penis joke in the same vein as Lil’ Dicky.
Watching this you could see that the people behind it have a very strong interest in horror. While Little Willy is a fictionalized version of another franchise, there are visual references to other actual horror properties, such as a Gremlins doll, a Killer Klowns From Outer Space T-shirt, and a cosplay of a character from the popular supernatural anime, Death Note. It should also be noted that this was posted to Alter’s YouTube channel at a time when Chucky was back in the mainstream, the week before the Chucky TV series premiered (a show that is also set to have Adam’s real-life counterpart reprising his role as the grown-up child from the first two).
Conclusion
“Little Willy” is an effectively campy look at the effects of being typecast in Hollywood. In addition to that, it’s also a good tribute to Child’s Play and horror in general.
Watch it below
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Killer Shorts actively promotes diverse voices. If you are female-identifying, a Person of Color, a person with a disability, non-binary, or LGBTQ+ please email us at [email protected], or DM us on Twitter, for a discount code to submit your scripts.
