Tonight on MeTV- a young man who is tired of being under the thumb of a big cheese decides to fight back-with an army of rats! It’s vengeance in the form of vicious vermin lead by “Willard”!

This is the original 1971 version of the film, young Willard- employed at the company that his father built- must suffer through the crass bullying of his boss, Mr. Martin – a heartless man of few scruples who actually stole the company away from Willard’s family. Not only is Willard pushed around at work, but he is also constantly harangued by his controlling mother. She demands that he wait on her hand and foot while she demeans him, whining about how he isn’t being assertive at work and suggesting how she thinks he should be doing business.

Overbearing Mom throws him a surprise birthday party that he wants no part of, since the guests are only her obnoxious friends. Willard bails on the party, and heads outside the house for some peace and quiet. It is there where he encounters a friendly rat which he feeds a little birthday cake- beginning a relationship that will intensify in an alarming way.

The next day at work, big boss Martin lets Willard know that he feels he is not getting enough done. Martin has hired a temporary employee to help handle the workload- who turns out to be Joan, a cute blonde young woman who seems to be the only one in the office who is sympathetic to the shy young man.

Willard returns home, where his mother immediately starts in on him again, demanding that he get rid of the rats that she has seen lurking around their garden! As first, he sets out to do so, but then feels pity for the poor creatures. Unknown to his mom or anyone else, he secretly makes friends with them, and learns to communicate with the rodents, especially favoring a white rat he names Socrates.

Before long, he notices a new visitor- a larger rat that he names Ben. He begins to train the rats to do what he says and considers them his only real friends.

At work, Willard finally gets up the nerve to ask Martin for a raise- only to be again belittled by him. This convinces Willard to utilize his new friends in a very devious way-he has his rats sneak into a big dinner party at Martin’s place- with disastrous results!

After this minor victory, Willard is soon faced with tragedy that finds him being pressured to sell his family house, but he resists. An additional problem surfaces- his rat army has grown in proportion, and he realizes he can’t afford to feed so many furry friends. Driven by his sad financial plight, he starts using his “pets” to commit crimes - but things take an even darker turn, as he continues to bump heads with Martin- and notices that the big rat Ben is starting to disobey him, and exert his own influence on his fellow vermin!

This well-known early ‘70s horror movie guarantees to put viewers who find rats creepy on edge! Bruce Davison stars as Willard, with his mother played by none other than the one-time Bride of Frankenstein- Elsa Lanchester! Also among the cast are Sondra Locke as the sweet co-worker Joan- and the one and only Ernest Borgnine as the prototype of horrible bosses everywhere, Martin. We’ll talk about this cast and give you some behind-the-scenes information about the production. We’ll also present a variety of rat-based commercials that may seem familiar, get another visit from the multi-tasking Nostalgiaferatoo (this time working as an agent for rat actors?!), bring you a song with a familiar tune, and more.

Meet “Willard” tonight on MeTV at 8 pm eastern/pacific, 7 central time. You can join in on all the live-Tweeting during the show on Twitter/X – or post live comments during the show on Bluesky. On either one, make sure to add the hashtag #svengoolie. Our local Chicago area viewers get a second chance to see the ‘50s sci fi classic “It Came from Outer Space” this morning on WCIU the U at 11 am.

Please take a look at the latest addition to our Sven merchandise in the MeTV Mall- a terrific group of coffee mugs, each one featuring a member of our Sven Squad- you can choose from Gwengoolie, the Imp, Nostalgiaferatoo, and even yours truly! I especially like the bigger 15 oz. mugs- but the choice is yours!

A few other notes: we were sorry to hear that Chicago Bears Hall of Fame icon Steve McMichael has passed away- we worked with him on a special Bears pre-game show on our main local channel. I will talk about that in our May newsletter.

Also, it has been announced that I will do a talk show at this year’s Flashback Weekend horror convention in August, with the main guest being my old friend Robert Englund- the original Freddy Krueger! More on that soon… or go to flashbackweekend.com .

Finally, if you want to hear my alter ego Rich Koz helping to recreate some old radio programs, you can tune in today to the “Those Were the Days” radio show, which will feature highlights of the big anniversary stage show from earlier this month. It'll be heard from 1-5 pm CST on WDCB (90.9 FM in Chicagoland, and online at wdcb.org everywhere else)!

And tonight- choose your favorite beverage and snack (cheese, anyone?) and be ready for the furry forces lead by “Willard”!