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After the Winnie-the-Pooh slasher, now there's a Mickey Mouse horror movie. This is not necessarily a bad thing
https://www.theguardian.com/film/article/2024/jun/11/mickey-mouse-the-horror-movie-screamboatAfter the Winnie-the-Pooh slasher, now there’s a Mickey Mouse horror movie. This is not necessarily a bad thing
Stuart Heritage
Steamboat Willie, the first Mickey cartoon, has fallen out of copyright. Enter Screamboat: a slasher flick set on a New York ferry. Will gory versions of Bugs Bunny, Popeye and Betty Boop be next?
Tue 11 Jun 2024 07.30 EDT
This year, the legendary Disney short film Steamboat Willie, the first film to feature Mickey Mouse, entered the public domain. In theory, that means this version of Mickey Mouse now belongs to the people, who are free to share, reuse, sample, repurpose or perform works featuring him however they see fit, without fear of reprisal from Disney. Theoretically this could spark an entire organic folk revival of a character who played a part in all our childhoods.
In reality, though, things are a little different. Because in reality someone is going to make a cheap horror film about him. Variety has announced the existence of Screamboat, a film about some New Yorkers who go on a late-night ferry trip and end up being terrorised by an evil mouse. “The unlikely crew must band together to thwart the murderous menace before their relaxing commute turns into a nightmare,” reads the description.
In one sense, Screamboat holds quite a lot of promise, not least because the main character – whose name appears to have been changed to Murderous Mouse just to keep Disney at bay – will be played by David Howard Thornton, who most recently traumatised the life out of anyone who saw him in Terrifier 2. His presence suggests that the horror element is being taken seriously, at least. If his mouse can convey a tenth of the menace of his Terrifier character, then Screamboat has the potential to be something quite special.
But in another sense, there does seem to be something quite deadeningly inevitable about this. The public domain entry of works and characters that are still relevant and contemporary is still relatively new, and already a blueprint has been formed. As soon as the corporations lose control of their properties, the first thing out of the gates is almost always a horror movie.
[...]
Stuart Heritage
Steamboat Willie, the first Mickey cartoon, has fallen out of copyright. Enter Screamboat: a slasher flick set on a New York ferry. Will gory versions of Bugs Bunny, Popeye and Betty Boop be next?
Tue 11 Jun 2024 07.30 EDT
This year, the legendary Disney short film Steamboat Willie, the first film to feature Mickey Mouse, entered the public domain. In theory, that means this version of Mickey Mouse now belongs to the people, who are free to share, reuse, sample, repurpose or perform works featuring him however they see fit, without fear of reprisal from Disney. Theoretically this could spark an entire organic folk revival of a character who played a part in all our childhoods.
In reality, though, things are a little different. Because in reality someone is going to make a cheap horror film about him. Variety has announced the existence of Screamboat, a film about some New Yorkers who go on a late-night ferry trip and end up being terrorised by an evil mouse. “The unlikely crew must band together to thwart the murderous menace before their relaxing commute turns into a nightmare,” reads the description.
In one sense, Screamboat holds quite a lot of promise, not least because the main character – whose name appears to have been changed to Murderous Mouse just to keep Disney at bay – will be played by David Howard Thornton, who most recently traumatised the life out of anyone who saw him in Terrifier 2. His presence suggests that the horror element is being taken seriously, at least. If his mouse can convey a tenth of the menace of his Terrifier character, then Screamboat has the potential to be something quite special.
But in another sense, there does seem to be something quite deadeningly inevitable about this. The public domain entry of works and characters that are still relevant and contemporary is still relatively new, and already a blueprint has been formed. As soon as the corporations lose control of their properties, the first thing out of the gates is almost always a horror movie.
[...]
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