"The Willies" (1990)

Watched "The Willies" (1990). For the longest time I've been under the mistaken notion that I had actually seen this film before. If asked, I could've told you that it was an anthology movie with the wraparound story being Sean Astin telling some kids spooky tales while camping out. Watching it now though I realized I must've pulled all that just from my memory of the cover box and not from seeing the actual film itself, as none of it rang a bell to me. The movie is essentially "Stand By Me" meets "Creepshow", and while there are a few very short vignettes that open the film, it's really divided into two different tales. The first is about a beleaguered young boy who discovers a monster in the school bathroom, to which he lures his annoying teacher and a trio of bullies in there. Basically a kiddie version of "The Crate" segment in "Creepshow", that while nothing exceptional, still manages to be charming in a strangely innocent way. The second segment revolves around an obnoxious fat kid who steals samples of a farmer's mysterious "miracle manure" that causes things to grown abnormally large and applies them to his strange obsession with collecting flies (that he likes to pull the wings off of). This one goes on way too long and ends up being the bulk of the film, which is a shame as it's not especially interesting and is pretty obvious where it's going. Would've been better had it only been 15 minutes long and they squeezed in at least one more tale. 4 out of 10 for me.