4 hours Ago By Tara Brady
In common with other brainless, opportunistic franchises – looking at you, Sharknado – the concept has scared up enough business to justify three terrible films and a worldwide gross of $16.5 million. Stay tuned for Bambi: The Reckoning in July and Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble in October.
Or, preferably, don’t. These primarily British productions seem content to trade on revisiting your childhood favourites as serial killers. That’s the plot.
That’s the joke. There is no reason for these movies to be as lazy as they have been. Screamboat, a rival bid to monetise the newly public-domain Steamboat Willie – Mickey Mouse’s 1928 introduction to the world – predictably transforms the iconic rodent into a violent psychopath.
Happily, unlike the Twisted Childhood Universe, Steven LaMorte’s horror makes some effort to engage with the source material in humorous, gory ways, including a fun animated parody and a cheeky cameo from Willie’s creator, “Walt”. The film is set on a Staten Island ferry, where the killer mouse wreaks havoc on passengers, including a hen party standing in for Disney princesses. It’s undeniably a low-rent production.
The same exterior shot of the ferry is used repeatedly; routine words are mispronounced. Fortunately, the script, by the director and Matthew Garcia-Dunn, embraces the mayhem with a violent nod to Itchy and Scratchy. The murderous mouse is played with huge energy by David Howard Thornton.
The brilliant mime behind Terrifier’s Art the Clown makes merry with the rodent’s diminutive status. The Irish veteran Jarlath Conroy, who has movie credits stretching back to Heaven’s Gate, brings grizzled charm to the doomed supporting cast. Screamboat is no classic, but it knows its audience.
The makers of the upcoming Pinocchio: Unstrung could learn a thing or two. Screamboat is available on digital platforms from Monday, May 5th, and on DVD & Blu-ray from Monday, June 2nd Tara Brady, a contributor to The Irish Times, is a writer and film critic.
