What Steamboat Willie might look like after several tabs of acid.
Image from Screamboat courtesy Sleight of Hand Productions.

Images of the latest unimaginative reimagining of a hundred-year-old character as a serial killer dropped on Monday.

The producers of Screamboat, from the co-opting of Steamboat Willie, the latest Disney character to enter the public domain, released an image featuring their rendering of the murderous black-and-white rodent/ ship captain on Monday.

In case you’re still curious, the logline for the film reads, “Screamboat follows a group of New Yorkers on a late-night ferry ride that turns deadly when a mischievous mouse begins a rampage, targeting unsuspecting passengers. The unlikely crew must band together to thwart the murderous menace before their relaxing commute turns into a nightmare.”

Screamboat, originally slated to premiere this month, has been pushed back to an April release. (One hopes that the payoff for the additional months of waiting will be a vastly-improved story and even more special special effects.) The titular murder mouse in the live-action slasher will be portrayed by David Howard Thornton, better known to horror fans as Art the Clown in the Terrifier franchise.

Writer-director Steven LaMorte (an excellent name for a horror movie director!) said in a statement that he is “so excited to share our mischievous monster mouse with the world. Screamboat is my way of paying homage to Disney while putting a sinister, yet comedic twist on the classic,” said writer-director Steven LaMorte. “Watching David Howard Thornton bring Steamboat Willie to life with the magicians at Quantum Creation FX has been nothing short of amazing — he’s hilarious and murderously entertaining. I can’t wait for audiences to meet Willie and experience the chaos we’ve created.”

In addition to Thornton, Screamboat stars Tyler Posey, Kailey Hyman, Allison Pittel, Amy Schumacher, Jesse Posey, and Jesse Kove, with cameos by Brian Quinn and Joe DeRosa.

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