The blessing and curse of the public domain is that you can make a movie like Screamboat without permission from Disney, but you also want to remind people of Disney. One of the main reasons it works at all is the subversive naughtiness behind seeing a character like Steamboat Willie, whom we’ve always associated with Mickey Mouse and Disney, as something evil and violent.
So how do you do that exactly? Where’s the line? Well, the latest trailer for Screamboat, which opens April 2, is a masterclass in that balance. We almost don’t want to spoil it because you are going to laugh but basically everything about the trailer is meant to remind you of Disney… without ever saying that. Check it out.
From the fonts and the music, to the famous lines from the films, everything about that trailer is about the juxtaposition of happy Disney and evil horror. Which is what makes us or anyone interested in the first place, right? So, for that alone, we commend it.
Now, will the movie itself actually be fun, entertaining, and smart about that balance in the same way? We’ll see soon. But that the film, directed by Steven LaMorte, is from some of the same team behind Terrifier 2 and 3, and even stars the actor behind Art the Clown himself, David Howard Thornton, gives us hope that the movie could be like that. Audacious, silly, and gross. The trailer certainly makes it seem that way.
In addition to Thornton as Steamboat Willie, Screamboat stars Allison Pittel, Amy Schumacher, Jesse Posey, Jesse Kove, Kailey Hyman, Rumi C Jean-Louis, Jarlath Conroy, and Charles Edwin Powell. It opens “in select cinemas for a limited time” on April 2. So if you want to see it, get out there soon. And we’ll have more on Screamboat in the days leading up to that release.
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