The next Mickey Mouse horror movie to be released in theaters is Screamboat, which gives a ᴅᴇᴀᴅly twist to the classic Disney animated short Steamboat Willie – however, the first official look at the villain shows it’s repeating the most disappointing element from Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood & Honey, but there’s a twist that can save it. A popular yet controversial trend in horror that keeps gaining force is adaptations of children’s characters and stories. While the Twisted Childhood Universe keeps building its own world, other studios aren’t wasting the chance to give a touch of horror to once-innocent characters.
One character who has been very popular among horror filmmakers is Steamboat Willie, who has already gotten a couple of horror movies with more in development. The next horror take on Steamboat Willie to be released in 2025 is Screamboat, directed by Steven LaMorte and written by him and Matthew Garcia-Dunn. Screamboat will take the audience to New York City, where a late-night ferry ride will turn into a nightmare. Ahead of its April 2025 release, the first look at Screamboat’s villain has been revealed, but it repeats Blood & Honey’s biggest mistake.
Screamboat is not part of The Twisted Childhood Universe, and thus has no connection to Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood & Honey and Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare.
Screamboat’s Villain’s Look Repeats Blood & Honey’s Masks Mistake
Screamboat’s Villain Doesn’t Look Menacing At All
The 1928 Steamboat Willie black and white animated short film entered the public domain in January 2024, allowing anyone to use the character for various works. The horror genre has seized this chance and made a couple of movies with Steamboat Willie as inspiration, one of them Screamboat. The project was announced in April 2024 and teased to be a horror comedy with the famous mouse as the villain. Unlike other horror versions of Steamboat Willie, Screamboat’s villain is a miniature mouse, described as “mischievous” and one who can unleash “murderous mayhem.”
To achieve this, Screamboat mixes practical effects, miniatures, and prosthetic makeup, with David Howard Thornton playing the mouse. Though the release date of Screamboat is still a couple of months away, the first official full look at the murderous Mickey Mouse has been released… and it’s a strange one. The mouse is certainly a tiny one and wears the outfit of Steamboat Willie, but it’s very clearly a man dressed like a mouse – and it’s disturbingly and unfortunately reminiscent of the appearance of Winnie the Pooh and company in Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey.
It was very hard to take them seriously as ᴅᴇᴀᴅly threats with those looks.
Pooh’s popular horror movie was heavily criticized and laughed at for the appearance of its villains, who were wearing plastic masks of a horror version of Pooh and a pig (for Piglet, of course). However, the characters weren’t humans wearing masks (like in The Mouse Trap, for example), and were actually anthropomorphic creatures. It was very hard to take them seriously as ᴅᴇᴀᴅly threats with those looks, but luckily, the sequel fixed this. Unfortunately, Screamboat is now at risk of experiencing the same problem.
Screamboat’s Disappointing Villain Look Can Be Justified In 1 Key Way
Screamboat Can Make 1 Important Adjustment
As mentioned above, Screamboat was described as a horror comedy, even if the first teaser was more horror and no comedy. Surely, it’s possible that the tone of Screamboat changed once it entered production, but it’s the comedy side that can justify Mickey Mouse’s appearance. The only image released so far of this evil Mickey Mouse isn’t exactly a scary one, more so when remembering he’s the size of a mouse. Simply put, the design of Screamboat’s Mickey Mouse isn’t threatening at all.
However, leaning more toward the comedy side can be what saves Screamboat from going through the same problem as Blood and Honey and its plastic masks. Screamboat could acknowledge the non-threatening appearance of Mickey Mouse and make fun of it, only for the tiny mouse to show it’s absolutely capable of killing many, many people. The scare factor of Screamboat’s Mickey Mouse will be his actions, not so much its look, which fits a horror comedy vibe if that’s still the movie’s tone.
Screamboat’s Villain Has One Big Strength That Can Save The Movie
This Is Screamboat’s Secret Weapon
Despite its design flaws, Screamboat’s Mickey Mouse has one big strength: its actor. David Howard Thornton is no stranger to the horror genre, and he’s best known as Art the Clown in all three Terrifier movies so far and the character’s TV appearances. Thornton also played a horror version of The Grinch in The Mean One and will appear as a zombie in the upcoming Night of the Living ᴅᴇᴀᴅ II. Thornton, then, knows how to bring to life some truly horrifying characters, even if their design isn’t exactly nightmare-inducing.
Screamboat’s keys to success can be embracing its comedy side through its villain and also Thornton’s performance. It’s going to be interesting to see Thornton as a miniature mouse who’s out to kill everyone on a ferry, and his performance is what can make this Mickey Mouse disturbing and terrifying despite its underwhelming and strange look.
