SCREAMBOAT (2025)

4 stars

Signature Entertainment. Vue cinemas. 2nd April

In 2024 the original incarnation of one of the most famous cartoon icons, one Mickey Mouse, fell into public domain. What this meant was that, likes the recent horror movies featuring the killer Winnie the Pooh and his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood, filmmakers could, in some way, exploit this. Leading to such titles as THE MOUSE TRAP: WELCOME TO THE MICKEYVERSE, MOUSEBOAT MASSACRE and the film under review SCREAMBOAT, which I have to say, despite being utterly ridiculous, was rather enjoyable.

Selena (Allison Pittel) is running to the Staten Island ferry terminal. She is being followed by five girls celebrating a birthday, who she is trying to avoid (and who you know are going to be kill fodder anyway). The attendant Pete (Jesse Posey) helps her out by sending them to the top deck whilst he tells her to go to the lower decks.

Various other folks board the boat. More potential victims! The night is foggy and the Captain is advised that he shouldn’t take the boat out, especially as it’s the oldest in the fleet, but he ignores the warning. Of course he does! The drunk party girls stagger around the decks, just waiting to meet their fate.

Soon people on there are being attacked and killed by what appears to be some kind of rodent, who sort of looks like Mickey Mouse from STEAMBOAT WILLIE (played by Art the Clown himself David Howard Thornton, having fun in another role which involves him murdering as many people as he can in suitably grisly fashion). A guy dressed as the Statue of Liberty has his lamp bloodily shoved through his head; a cop is attacked with a hammer and then held over the side to be battered by the propellor. All good clean fun.

Selena witnesses this but nobody believes her. Which is hardly surprising I suppose… Soon the boat is off course, in the fog and with no communication – but can they find the murderous mousey menace before more passengers are bloodily killed. Of course not!

Clearly meant to be a comedy horror, it’s all rather silly stuff with a creature that isn’t remotely believable and with scale that is all over the place. It doesn’t really make any sense per se and is not particularly realistic but it is a fun creation that doesn’t look much like it’s supposed cartoon inspiration. Whilst they are several oblique references to the Disney “inspiration”, there’s a very specific Mickey Mouse sequence about an hour in, in the shape of a cartoon about Captain Walt finding Willie and ultimately abandoning him, so he becomes Screamboat Willie (see what they did there).

Director Steven LaMorte already explored a similar idea in THE MEAN ONE (2022) – a horror version of The Grinch. He splashes the red stuff in gory abandon, with some creative killings and well done make up fx. It is a touch too long, but if you go with it you’ll have fun.

Stick around for the mid-credits sequence and the promise that Willie and Minnie will return on the end. It’s showing exclusively at Vue cinemas initially and will presumably be available on digital later.

Steve Kirkham