Studio: DeskPop Entertainment
Director: Steven LaMorte
Writer: Steven LaMorte, Matthew Garcia-Dunn
Producer: Steven LaMorte, Amy Schumacher, Martine Melloul, Steven Della Salla, Michael Leavy
Stars: David Howard Thornton, Allison Pittel, Amy Schumacher, Jesse Posey, Brian Quinn, Joe DeRosa, Tyler Posey, Jesse Kove, Jarlath Conroy
Review Score:
Summary:
A murderous, mutant mouse terrorizes passengers aboard New York’s Staten Island Ferry.
Review:
Considering the awful options clogging the overflowing gutter of low-budget fright flicks based on old cartoons, you could do a lot worse than “Screamboat.” I know I certainly have, particularly with each successive entry in the increasingly insufferable “Twisted Childhood Universe” series. “Screamboat” still has a fragrant “made for Tubi” aroma, but compared to its peers in public domain pillaging, it’s the closest one there is to a “real” movie, not a sloppy nothing-burger coasting entirely on the unearned attention some classic kiddie character automatically attracts.
Like those previous Popeye and Pooh projects, “Screamboat’s” big idea for appropriating Walt Disney’s original incarnation of Mickey Mouse is as simple as turning Steamboat Willie into a homicidal killer. Unlike those unmentioned movies, “Screamboat” does its murderous metamorphosis differently by making Willie more, or rather less, than a mere man in a cheap Halloween mask. Unexpectedly, “Screamboat” avoids the easy way out and instead presents Willie as a mutant mouse rendered with various effects that shrink down “Terrifier’s” Art the Clown actor David Howard Thornton to the size of a Smurf.
That’s far from the only way “Screamboat” separates itself from the redundant dullness and penny-pinching aesthetics normally associated with this subgenre. To begin with, “Screamboat” convincingly sells its New York setting with several panoramic cityscapes for establishing shots, and what looks like an authentic Staten Island Ferry interior where the crux of the carnage takes place. For once, it doesn’t seem like every set is confined to a space the size of a studio apartment, giving the production room to spread out and breathe like it has lived-in locations.
“Screamboat’s” setup can still be reductively described as “evil comic character slaughters a bunch of bodies,” but the movie comes chock full of people onscreen, which again makes the scenario feel like it unfolds on a working ferry rather than limiting everything to the same handful of amateur actors for 90 mundane minutes. There’s a varied assortment of cops, deckhands, passengers, employees, and plenty of stereotypes including drunken party girls with exaggerated accents, New York tough guys, and low-level celebrity spoofs like a naked cowboy and tourist hustler in a homemade Statue of Liberty costume.
I wouldn’t quite classify “Screamboat” as a comedy, at least not in the same sense that “Shaun of the Dead” or “Zombieland” are. But it is played with its tongue jutting through its cheek. Audience eyes initially roll at overplayed performances, accompanied by an exhausted thought of “here we go again with conceited Instagram wannabes being obnoxious.” Eventually you realize the cast deliberately plays things loose without being insincere. That realization may not prevent annoyance at some of the portrayals, though that makes it harder to come down on the movie for being humorously ham-handed at times.
There are plenty of reasons why these Saturday morning slashers come across as hollow, indistinguishable content instead of appearing connected to or truly inspired by their source material in any meaningful way. The main reason being that they’re usually too timid to risk potential legal repercussions, so they don’t bother running anything past an attorney and just make the movie as generic as possible.
“Screamboat,” on the other hand, fearlessly flirts with a cease-and-desist order by packing in plenty of winking references to Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney, and even the branded theme parks. The ferry that Steamboat Willie terrorizes is named Mortimer, a nod to Mickey’s original name before Walt’s wife convinced him to change it. Two girls do a dance called the “Dole Whip.” Willie has Mickey’s signature laugh. He also whistles Mickey’s signature song from the 1928 short. Some lines of dialogue are pulled from Disney films and song titles, and there’s even a gag where Willie raises the price of churros on a menu board by flipping a six to a nine. Whether the laughs land or not, it’s refreshing to see a sly dig at Disney Park price gouging without it being a direct punch in the face.
I can’t fathom how anyone could claim to be a fan of any of the previous Disney-related slashers and then somehow not enjoy this one. The kills are bloodier, the jokes are funnier, and the production value is exponentially more polished than anything else in this category. It’s not saying much, but I’ll take details like polo shirts with embroidered logos and consistent music that doesn’t sound like one guy did it on a Casio keyboard over the lazy plug-and-slay formula the TCU films follow. Toss in an appearance by “Day of the Dead” actor Jarlath Conroy and Cobra Kai sensei Martin Kove’s son Jesse as a confident cop who suffers a surprise demise, and you’ve got an unexpected amount of goofily good things going on.
Even if you can’t stand this brand of B-movie, and no one blames you, you might still find some fun here since the bar has sunk so low, “Screamboat” might as well be “Casablanca.” Another way to put it is, if you only watch one public domain horror movie based on an expired copyright, and no one needs to watch more than one anyway, “Screamboat” really is the best option.
NOTE: There is a mid-credits scene.
Review Score: 55
If you only watch one public domain slasher based on an expired copyright, and no one needs to watch more than one anyone, “Screamboat” really is the best option.