A group of New Yorkers have their late-night commute on the Staten Island Ferry brutally interrupted by an unlikely foe: a mouse with an appetite for murderous mayhem and a murky connection to the ferry. Gory mayhem ensues as the remaining commuters fight to stay alive.
★★★☆☆
The great Christopher Nolan once said that we need to feel films rather than think about them too much. Films are, after all, an art form, and are best experienced when an audience allows themselves to be fully immersed in its world and characters, rather than overthinking every single plot detail and intricacy. This mindset is especially important when it comes to films which aren’t meant to be taken seriously—Screamboat being a prime example.
Screamboat is a horror retelling of Walt Disney’s classic animation Steamboat Willie, although oddly is not a part of the ‘Twisted Childhood Universe’ (TCU) which has included similar re-tellings of other beloved Disney characters. In this iteration, the mouse isn’t as interested in steering the boat but instead killing off its passengers and crew in the most gruesome ways possible. While passengers and crew are gradually picked off in violent yet increasingly creative ways, a handful of survivors attempt to call for help as they uncover the reason for the mouse’s murderous nature and its historical connection to the boat.
Screamboat‘s enjoyment centrally derives from David Howard Thornton’s performance as Steamboat Willie. As previously evident in Damien Leone’s Terrifier films, Thornton’s ability to bring physical comedy and animated facial expressions whilst in full make-up and costume rivals that of the likes of Mr Bean. Perhaps the fact that Screamboat centres around one location makes the film tighter and gives Thornton’s character more to do; as opposed to other horrors which juggle too many characters and locations simultaneously.
Screamboat isn’t hugely concerned with delivering convincing scares and tension to its audience, but more so with pushing the boundaries on the gore and horror-comedy. Whilst the gore in Screamboat isn’t nearly the level of the Terrifier films, it certainly aspires to it. Expect old-school practical effects of body parts being pierced, including one in which a certain genitalia is visibly removed, briskly reminiscent of the silliness of the 2010s Piranha films. Another scene involving a water hose and electricity is funny both deliberately, for its creativity, and inadvertently, for its shaky visual effects.
Willie in Screamboat is indeed, the size of a mouse (which arguably changes slightly throughout the film due to some questionable special effects), likening the character to other bite-sized antagonists in the realm of horror-comedy such as Gremlins (1984), Critters (1986) and the Child’s Play films. Just as it does in those films, this choice makes Willie’s antics even more hysterical. Several not-so-subtle nods to Disney properties, give Screamboat extra elements of parody—as if turning a beloved children’s icon into a horror icon wasn’t enough. At one point Willie even does the iconic whistling scene with a murderous twist, along with giggles and various other cartoony noises throughout the film to only add to the character’s hilarity.
The actual plot of Steamboat centres around Allison Pittel’s Selena, who runs onto the boat in an attempt to escape a group of rowdy girls on a night out.. Pittel has the most to work with of the ensemble cast. Selena is torn between staying in New York or going home to Minnesota, which she banters about frequently with emergency medical technician Amber (Amy Schumacher), and has a romantic subplot with the boat’s first mate Pete (Jesse Posey). The film also features Thornton’s fellow Terrifier 2 cast member Kailey Hyman as Cindi, an exaggerated, one-dimensional Mean Girls-esque figure from the aforementioned rowdy girl gang. Performances range from believably good from the main cast to toe-curling over exaggeration from supporting characters, but it hardly matters—there’s no point getting emotionally invested in characters who are simply there to be Willie’s unsympathetic victims.
The Verdict
At its best, Steamboat is unapologetically self-aware and respectfully owns the fact that it is over-the-top and intended to be a casual watch for fans of horror-comedy. Whilst this isn’t quite enough to save it from some atrocious special effects, generic plot and one-dimensional characters, it fits nicely into the category of overblown B-movies which were in abundance in the 80s and 90s. Here’s hoping Christopher Nolan may find some enjoyment in Willie’s genitalia-detaching mayhem.
Words by Gareth Griffiths
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