by Nick Nitkowski

Public domain is nothing new. It’s existed for a long time. Basically, once something that is copyrighted is released out into the public, it becomes public domain in about 95 years. Funny enough, most of Disney’s empire was built off of stories that became public domain. But now the tables have turned as Walt Disney’s original cartoon classic “Steamboat Willie” has become public domain! And much like with the character of Winnie the Pooh, the first idea that everyone had was, “let’s make it a horror movie!” As far as I know, there have already been two different horror iterations of “Steamboat Willie” that were released. Now we have iteration number three with the movie “Screamboat”! Of course, curiosity gets the best of me, so I had to see what this movie is for myself.

After seeing this movie for myself, I can honestly and wholeheartedly say that this movie is a freaking riot! This is easily one of the best “it’s-so-bad-it’s-good” type movies I’ve seen. It’s right up there with “The Room” in my opinion. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I was dying of laughter watching this thing. It is the most fun I’ve had in a movie theater in a while. I’ve been seeing footage of people quoting and cheering while watching “A Minecraft Movie”, but this was essentially my version of that because I received very little enjoyment watching “A Minecraft Movie”.

This movie is from the production team behind “Terrifier 2” and “Terrifier 3” which is obviously my new favorite horror franchise right now and seeing that on the poster sparked my interest in the film. It’s also directed by the guy who directed “The Mean One” a horror take on The Grinch, which I personally wasn’t the biggest fan of. But regardless of that, they definitely made up for it with this movie.

The other similarity between the “Terrifier” movies, “The Mean One” and “Screamboat” is that they all star David Howard Thornton as the main slasher of the movie! In this instance, he plays “Screamboat Willie” and just like with his other movies, David Howard Thornton was the absolute best part of the entire movie. He completely steals the show every time he was on screen. He was absolutely hilarious in this movie and he never had to utter a single word. This man understands his assignments and delivers his performances with flying colors every single time. I greatly admire him and I applaud him for his performances and I can’t wait to see whatever he does next.

What I enjoyed most about this movie is that they didn’t take the easy route like the other iterations did by just having some guy dressed as a mouse and start killing people. Yes, David Howard Thornton is dressed as a mouse and kills people, but what sets this movie apart from the others is the fact that they shrunk him down to the size of Mickey Mouse and he him kill people in such ridiculously funny ways. On top of that, this movie is loaded with Disney references stemming not only familiar lines from various Disney movies, but also poking fun at their business practices.

Overall, I had the best time watching “Screamboat”. If you are fortunate enough to watch this movie in theaters with a very fun audience like I did, you will have a great time watching it. Seeing it at home alone will not have the same effect. My only real complaint toward the movie is that while I was having fun watching it, it felt a little too long. Clocking in at an hour and 40 minutes long, I think it could have been a solid hour and a half and it would have been perfect. While it may have a bigger budget to work with than with “The Mean One”, not everything in this movie is seamless and it’s certainly not for everyone. It heavily relies on green screen and puppeteering to accomplish certain shots, but it’s imperfections only add to its goofy charm. Everything about this movie is ridiculous in the best way possible. If you happen to be a fan of both Disney movies and horror movies, this Boat blends the two in a truly unholy matrimony and will leave you Screaming with laughter.

4 stars