Screamboat… yet another IP fallen to the public domain dark side, turned into a slasher movie. Only this time they have an actual budget, some good actors, and a solid writer. In other words, they tried.
Steamboat Willie is aboard the Staten Island Ferry trying to kill some New Yawkers. New Yawkers are trying to survive the slaughter. They mention Stuart Little at one point which begs the question of whether or not Stuart would have existed without Mickey Mouse. This movie doesn’t examine that question but it examines other meta stuff.
It’s a horror/comedy that made me (and my enthusiastic audience) laugh. There’s some very funny self-referential, meta humor… plus some good jabs at New Yawkers. A decent number of the Disney gags probably walk a fine line between Steamboat Willie being in the public domain but not much else. I admire the chutzpah… even if sometimes the referential dialog doesn’t really fit in context of the scene (I probably just thought about that too much).
As a horror movie, it’s okish. The reason to come isn’t for the scares… though the gore is over-the-top funny so that’s a plus. As a pure slasher, it gets the job done. Too bad it gets a little long in the tooth in the final act (but at least they were still playing in the Disney sandbox).
Unfortunately, the Mickey Mouse costume is pretty <ahem> ratty. It doesn’t look like Steamboat Willie… in fact, it looks more like the live action Grinch got it on with Leprechaun and had a Rodent of Unusual Size baby. And I wondered why they were so off-model from the cartoon but then figured maybe nothing practical would have worked. At least the very funny cartoon sequence half-way through got it right.
The fact is, they tried. They put in a solid effort to make an actual horror/comedy that represents the IP. It’s corny and exploitative and they had fun with it. It’s worth a look… unless you are standing on principle that these public domain cheapies are wrong. I was there for a bit but I’ve gotten over it… the avalanche has already started, it is too late for the pebbles to vote.
Score: 78