A Slew of Mickey Mouse Horror Films are on the Way

Movies

South Park was ahead of the curve once again when they made Mickey Mouse a scary villain. Unless you’re still sleeping off your New Year’s revelry, you’ve undoubtedly heard that the earliest version of Mickey Mouse – the one who made his debut in the cartoon short Steamboat Willie – is now in the public domain, meaning anyone can make a marketable work of art featuring that specific Mickey Mouse. Well, the first few attempts are in, and they’re… horror movies. Because of course they are.

The first of these is already available, meaning it was probably made in anticipation of the rights lapse. It’s a short film called The Vanishing of the S.S. Willie by a group called Night Signal Entertainment, and you can watch it below (it’s just under ten minutes long):

That was kind of interesting. I like how it’s done in the style of an old silent film, with the suggestion of violence and horror. It’s a neat idea to play on how old Steamboat Willie is.

Next up is a horror movie that was already at least partly filmed because it has a trailer. It’s called Mickey’s Mouse Trap, directed by Jamie Bailey, and it involves a bunch of teenagers at an arcade contending with a murderous Mickey. You can see the trailer below:

This one just looks like a junky slasher flick, with dialogue lifted from Scream and a serial killer in a Mickey mask carving up the teens. It’s even got its own hashtag, #TheMouseIsOut, to generate hype. This is the prototype for what I imagine most of the attempts to capitalize on Mickey’s new availability will look like.

Finally, there is an announced horror film from Steven LaMorte, who’s directed a bunch of horror movies and shorts you’ve probably never heard of. The untitled film will be based on Steamboat Willie and, according to a Variety piece, will be about “a sadistic mouse [that] will torment a group of unsuspecting ferry passengers.” This sounds better than Mickey’s Mouse Trap, for sure, and at least it does something with Mickey as a character rather than just slap a mask with his face on a generic slasher villain.

Undoubtedly, there will be more where these came from. You have to wonder if the novelty will wear off rather quickly; I guess that depends on whether someone comes up with a truly inspired idea for a Mickey movie.