Production on “Screamboat” is chugging right along.
Director Steven LaMorte stepped away from an editing session to update IndieWire on his forthcoming horror comedy, expected in theaters early next year from distributors DeskPop Entertainment and Iconic Events Releasing. The slasher spoof plans to commandeer Disney’s “Steamboat Willie” from 1928 — now that its black-and-white versions of Mickey and Minnie Mouse are in the public domain. You can watch the film’s sinister first teaser trailer, making its exclusive digital debut with IndieWire, above.
“Our movie, while it is bloody and gory and raunchy, it really is a love letter to this character,” said LaMorte, who co-wrote the script with Matthew Garcia-Dunn. “As 2024 got closer and closer, it seemed like the copyright was really going to lapse. Once the clock struck midnight on January 1, and it was clear that we were going to be free to use the character and have some real fun with him, we started putting the film together.”
The director describes his project as “the story of a late-night ferry ride in New York City where commuters and deckhands and all the usual passengers are attacked by a murderous and mischievous mouse who is mean, tiny, and loves getting up to no good.” Per LaMorte, the character is “a 100 percent in-camera practical creature” — designed by Quantum Creation FX as both a puppet and a costume.
“Because of his size, there are some really crazy kills in this movie that were pretty tough to pull off,” said LaMorte. “There are definitely scenes that I feel confident I’m going to have to have an awkward conversation with my mother about after we’re done.”
Starring “Terrifier” actor David Howard Thornton, “Screamboat” is the latest in a genre trend that’s become an indie film movement. The nautical nightmare follows in the wake of other scary movies recently inspired by old Disney IP. British filmmaker Rhys Frake-Waterfield broke fresh ground with the “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey” duology, which is set to expand into a full-on “Poohniverse” with “Bambi: The Reckoning,” “Pinocchio: Unstrung,” and more grim fairytales coming out later this year and into 2025. (“Screamboat” is not associated with that series, although the filmmakers are friendly.)
“It’s so hard to get people’s attention at an independent level,” said LaMorte, maintaining his love for the original “Steamboat Willie” while admitting that his project is something of a Trojan horse. “I’ve always wanted to make a horror film on the Staten Island Ferry, ever since I was commuting to and from film school in New York. But I could either make a random movie about the ferry or I could do ‘Steamboat Willie.’ Which one do you think people are going to want to go see?”
He continued, “It’s a good way to get in front of new audiences because you have that name recognition, and then you can show off and say, ‘Look what this different voice or this different perspective can create.’ We are actually able to hold their attention with just that little bit of familiarity.”
LaMorte has tried both approaches when choosing scripts to direct. In 2022, he helmed the original zombie-detective flick “Bury Me Twice” and then the subversive monster movie “The Mean One” back-to-back. Only the latter project — an unauthorized take on “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” — went viral. LaMorte, Frake-Waterfield, and filmmakers like them are capitalizing on a “dark Disney” fandom that’s been exploring House of Mouse horrors via cosplay, makeup, and fan art online for years.
“Even if our movies are not as big or don’t have as large of the marketing budget, we do have the reach,” said LaMorte, emphasizing the role that childhood nostalgia can play even in the horror genre. “Because of the internet, we can connect with the audiences that really like what we’re doing. It’s a new wave of indie cinema and I’m sincerely excited to be a part of it.”
Unlike “Screamboat,” “The Mean One” relied solely on fair use as parody for its legal protection. Public domain won’t apply to the Dr. Seuss library for decades, but LaMorte’s gutsy experimentation then helped chart his path to the “Steamboat Willie” IP now. Fuzz on the Lens Productions is the Staten Island-based company behind both “Screamboat” and the “Terrifier” franchise. LaMorte grew up with its top creatives — described on their website as “a group of filmmakers who are friends first and foremost.” That’s how he ended up with Thornton — first as his Grinch, then as his Steamboat Willie.
“I thought to myself, ‘Man, you know what my next movie needs? More David Howard Thornton,’” LaMorte said, laughing. While the Grinch was a more beastly role, the director compared the character of Steamboat Willie in “Screamboat” to “a silent vaudeville type” like Buster Keaton.
“I needed somebody that could do that while also being a creature, while also being scary, while also being comfortable wearing five hours of makeup and 10 pounds of prosthetics,” the filmmaker continued. “David was the obvious choice and all of the storyboards and the pre-visualization and scripting and everything that I could have written into the script, he just took it to the next level.”
Celebrated as the titular “Terrifier” (AKA Art the Clown), Thornton has a reputation as an especially skilled horror performer. The surprise box office success of “Terrifier 2” — an extreme genre effort that earned $15 million against a $250,000 microbudget — proves that buzzy new antagonists can be lucrative without existing IP. But after applying Thornton’s talents to Steamboat Willie, LaMorte says his star is almost too good. Not only did the director routinely have to throw out takes because his crew was laughing too much, but Thornton’s portrayal has reshaped much of the film.
“It’s forced us to reevaluate even the way we’re editing the movie because his performance is so fun and so entertaining while still being scary,” said LaMorte. “It’s really special to watch.”
Director Jamie Bailey’s “The Mouse Trap” is another “Steamboat Willie” send-up that went straight to VOD earlier this month. LaMorte emphasized that’s he’s not singling out that specific film (or any other project, for that matter), but said that “Screamboat” will not be “a slasher villain in a mask that just takes on the mantle of Steamboat Willie. Our Steamboat Willie is very much the Steamboat Willie that you remember — the songs and the poses, everything.”
The director hopes the unique setting will further distinguish his project from its competitors.
“Shooting on a real functioning boat is amazing because it’s not a sound stage, it’s not a set, it’s not green screen or a recreation,” LaMorte said. “All those scenes are so alive and they were super fun to film, but also you have strangers standing behind you looking at the monitor telling you, ‘Oh yeah, that shot looks good!’ And you turn around and you’re like, ‘Who are you? How did you get all the way over here?’ Shooting in New York City is wild.”
The “Screamboat” cast includes Thornton as well as Allison Pittel (“Stream”), Amy Schumacher (“The Mean One”), Jesse Posey (“Teen Wolf”), Jesse Kove (“Cobra Kai”), Rumi C Jean-Louis (“Hightown”), Jarlath Conroy (“Day of the Dead”), and Charles Edwin Powell (“The Exorcist III”). Producers include LaMorte, Schumacher, Martine Melloul, Steven Della Salla, and Michael Leavy — with executive production by Sleight of Hand Productions, Reckless Content, and Julien Didon.
Asked if he’s had any angry Disney fans confront him over the film yet, LaMorte said he’s been cautioned about the possibility of negative reactions more than he’s experienced them.
“We all did this because we love this character, and we really wanted to make a cinematic big screen, fun thrill ride,” the director said. “The cartoon is very much at the heart of what we’re doing.”
“Screamboat” is expected in theaters early 2025, distributed by DeskPop Entertainment and Iconic Events Releasing.
