Mr. HoleHead’s Warped Dimension Review: “Willie, Jamaley and the Cacacoon”
By: Joseph Perry (Twitter - Uphill Both Ways Podcast)
Willie, Jamaley and the Cacacoon is a whimsical cryptozoology comedy that plays like a kid’s movie aimed at grown-ups. Part of that feel is because co-writers/co-directors Ryan Dellaquila and Tyler Schnabel (collectively known as The Not Brothers) have brought this independent feature to life after its origin as a home movie they made together 15 years earlier.
Willie (Schnabel) is an adult innocent — think of a cross between Gomer and Goober Pyle, Pee Wee Herman, and a human version of Stimpson J. “Stimpy” Cat — whose life revolves around taking care of his ailing Granny (Stephanie Tagye) and monster hunting. His childhood friend Jamaley (Trystin Bailey) has long grown out of his crytpid-pursuing phase and is happily settling into his eventual marriage with Tilda (Ashley Beth) and his job as a security guard.
Willie coaxes a reluctant Jamaley into an excursion deep in the forest to find the Cacacoon, a cryptid that Willie has been obsessed with since childhood and now hopes to finally provide evidence of for an upcoming creature convention. Proving the adage that you should never meet your heroes, our protagonists track down monster hunting television celebrity Rusty Waters (Paul Schnabel), who wouldn’t mind collecting reward money for himself.
Schnabel does a fine job portraying obsessed man-child Willie, investing the character with naivety, mischief, and most importantly, enough charm to forgive him his mistakes and occasional poor decisions. Bailey does a solid job as the straight man of the comic duo, and Paul Schnabel gives a delightfully wicked turn as the greedy Waters. The members of the sizable supporting cast all give delightful turns, as well.
Dellaquila and Schnabel have crafted an amusing feature with a fetching story and characters that are easy to invest in. Other than some very occasional mild language, Willie, Jamaley and the Cacacoon doesn’t contain any questionable material for the youngsters, and viewers of all ages can appreciate Willie’s story arc and the personal journey he goes on, as well as the road movie elements of his trip with Jamaley to try to capture not only a mythological creature, but personal achievement and a piece of his childhood.
Willie, Jamaley and the Cacacoon screens on September 27 as part of Mr. HoleHead’s Warped Dimension, the first-ever online film festival to be presented entirely through the Zoom app. The fest runs from September 24–29. For more information, visit https://www.ahith.com/.
Joseph Perry is one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast (whenitwascool.com/up-hill-both-ways-podcast/) and Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast (decadesofhorror.com/category/classicera/). He also writes for the film websites Diabolique Magazine (diaboliquemagazine.com), Gruesome Magazine (gruesomemagazine.com), The Scariest Things (scariesthings.com), Ghastly Grinning (ghastlygrinning.com), and Horror Fuel (horrorfuel.com), and film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope (videoscopemag.com) and Drive-In Asylum (etsy.com/shop/GroovyDoom).
If you found this article interesting consider becoming a Patreon supporter. That is how When It Was Cool keeps our website and podcasts online, plus you get lots of bonus content including extra and extended podcasts, articles, digital comics, ebooks, and much more. Check out our Patreon Page to see what's up!
If you don't want to use Patreon but still want to support When It Was Cool then how about a one time $5 PayPal donation? Thank you!
