The first four minutes of the upcoming I Heart Willie, a horror reimagining of Disney’s 1928 classic Steamboat Willie, has recently been unveiled. In this chilling adaptation, the beloved black-and-white Mickey Mouse is portrayed as a human-mouse hybrid serial killer with toned abs and an insatiable bloodlust. The film stars David Vaughn (Dopesick) as Willie, while YouTubers Daniel and Nico investigate his supposedly haunted property, only to find themselves in the Mouse’s ᴅᴇᴀᴅly grasp. I Heart Willie is set for a one-night theatrical release on February 26, 2025.
Now, Entertainment Weekly has shared the opening scene of I Heart Willie. With two white gloves, Willie tortures his latest victim with pliers when another unsuspecting individual enters his lair. Watch the full video below:
What I Heart Willie’s Opening Scene Means
From Innocent Whistles To Bloodcurdling Wails
With the upcoming slasher Screamboat, where David Howard Thorton (Terrifier‘s Art the Clown) terrorizes a group of New Yorkers as another monstrous rat, David Vaughn’s film marks the second Mickey Mouse horror movie to come out this year. After Steamboat Willie and other major cartoon characters entered the public domain in 2024, multiple horror projects rushed to put a dark spin on the character. Unlike other Mickey Mouse-based horror films, like Screamboat, I Heart Willie leans into the killer’s origin story, offering an unsettling in-universe explanation for Willie’s deformities as unsuspecting YouTubers investigate the legend of Steamboat Willie.
The upcoming adaptation of the cartoon mouse continues the recent horror trend of transforming beloved fairy tales and childhood icons into slasher villains, particularly with the “Poohniverse” series of indie slashers including Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey and the upcoming Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare. Beyond its backstory, I Heart Willie also taps into a contemporary horror aesthetic, reminiscent of the gory spectacle in the Terrifier franchise and the 2024 atmospheric slasher In A Violent Nature.
Our Take On I Heart Willie
Childhood Classic Turned Nightmare Fuel
Turning Mickey Mouse’s earliest iteration into a flesh-wearing, tongue-ripping serial killer is a wild creative leap, but one that fits seamlessly into the horror world’s current obsession with twisting nostalgic characters into nightmares. With a strong visual style, brutal gore, and a deep dive into a dark reimagining of Steamboat Willie’s origins, I Heart Willie has the potential to stick out among the barrage of fairy tale darlings turned killers. Whether it succeeds or stumbles, one thing is certain — this is not the Mickey Mouse your grandparents once knew.
Source: EW
