Many moons ago, my friend Ed and I rented this on VHS and even then it was at least ten years after its prime. Somehow neither of us fairly horror-knowledgable gents had heard of it before, but the box was luring us in with a picture of Donkey Lips from "Salute Your Shorts" screaming and wearing pajamas in a bed full of creepy crawlies. Add to that the promise of campfire spook stories that would give us the titular Willies and it became a "must rent."
I remember we enjoyed it and I probably applauded the presence of James Karen. I kind of forgot the details about it shortly after, however. So it was a real treat to spot this for $1.99 at Kmart while I was killing time and perusing their Halloween stuff.
It's an anthology of gross-out stories framed around three cousins telling each other tall tales and urban legends while camping. Imagine Creepshow with a tenth of the budget and aimed at nine your olds and you'll be on the right path.
It was written and directed by Brian Peck, who, according to a quick IMDB search, played Scuz in Return of the Living Dead. So I guess that explains the appearances by Clu Gulager and James Karen. I'm also 99% sure I briefly spotted the cable repair dreamboat from Return of the Living Dead Part II in one of the opening segments. Other highlights include a cameo by Growing Pains' Kirk Cameron, a monster on a toilet, a deep fried rat, a grade school bully in an Iron Maiden t-shirt, Donkey Lips, a dog in a microwave, and that old man from Home Alone who doesn't want to sell Mrs. McCallister a plane ticket because his wife already has earrings ("long, dangly ones").
Bill Erwin. His name is Bill Erwin.
What a cool Old Man name. Bill Erwin. I bet he was never young.
Well, I guess that's my story about The Willies.
