Screamboat Review: more comedy than horror, but still schlocky fun

PLOT: Be our guest on a New York City ferry ride that turns into a hilarious nightmare when a mischievous mouse – Steamboat Willie becomes a monstrous reality. Can the unsuspecting passengers survive the creature’s miniature murder and mayhem?

REVIEW: When Steamboat Willie’s copyright ran up, it was only a matter of time before we received a horror version. It’s happened with nearly every major IP at this point. And while Screamboat isn’t part of the Poohniverse, it shares qualities with their better efforts. Because at no point does this take itself seriously and there’s only one clear goal: bloody fun.

The story of Screamboat is pretty simple: a trip on the NYC Ferry turns into a bloody rampage as a mysterious creature is released and unleashes horror on them! The ferry is pretty much the only setting for the film so it can be a little: rinse and repeat. The setup takes a little long, with so many characters being introduced that it makes you wonder why they aren’t split up with a kill to keep the momentum going. It’s obvious this is just fodder for kills, so it can be a little monotonous. Screamboat comes to life a little bit once it’s revealed the true crux of the film: Screamboat Willie’s love for our lead, Selena. It’s here that you’re either going “that sounds gloriously stupid, I must know more” or this is where you step off this boat ride. As with any of these “so bad they’re good” horror  films, they’re not going to be appreciated by everybody. But those that like these style of films are eating well with a very fun horror villain at the forefront.

Screamboat Willie himself is a mixture of David Howard Thornton in the suit and a small puppet. I was actually surprised how much screentime the puppet gets, as the Willie character is on the smaller side. But Willie really comes alive when Thornton is under the makeup. He has an almost Freddy Krueger-type quality. And, despite being essentially mute, Thornton has made his mannerisms and movement considerably different than his other famous villain, Art the Clown. It can be a little frustrating how much he’s just green-screened into scenes versus actually being there, but I assume this was due to scale. The composite isn’t awful, but it’s certainly noticeable.

The film is at its best when its actually parodying Steamboat Willie. Thornton whistling the classic tune while dancing on someone’s corpse is exactly what these films need to be doing: giving a horror twist to regular properties. There are some fun tropes on display, like the big triumphant rallying speech ending in a sudden and violent explosion of death. This may be from the producers of Terrifier 2 and 3, but that doesn’t mean it’s got that level of gore. Don’t get me wrong, it still gets plenty wet and is creative while doing it but it avoids realistic for funny.

I really got a kick out of the miniature they used for flooding the ship. It’s a simple effect that could have been cheaply achieved with CGI so I appreciate that they went all the way and gave us a physical miniature. Digital fire still sucks, but at least they don’t look like stock flames. Outside of Thornton, the cast is filled with unknowns who do a serviceable job. Tyler Posey‘s role is brief and, with his brother as one of the leads, it’s not a shocker the production was able to get him. Day of the Dead‘s Jarlath Conroy shows up in a fun role, reminiscent of Crazy Ralph from the first two Friday the 13th movies.

Going into these public domain horror movies with the right expectations is the only way to have a good time. If you’re going in expecting high art, then I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe don’t watch the horror adaptation of a Mickey Mouse short. This is far from Oscar caliber cinema but that doesn’t meant it can’t have entertainment value. These kinds of films are on an entirely different scale. But if you just want to have some dumb fun watching an old Disney creation murdering people in a variety of ways, then this is exactly the movie for you.

SCREAMBOAT IS PLAYING IN THEATERS ON APRIL 2ND, 2025.

Screamboat

GOOD

7

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