Nasty nautical nonsense has a new name!
Committing fully to all things Walt Disney, Screamboat - written and directed by Steven LaMorte - absolutely delivers a keyed-in take on what Disneyland gone violent and wild might look like. It’s a full-throttled 100-minutes of zany humor mixed with a killer creature that only David Howard Thornton - Terrifier’s Art The Clown - could bring to life!
This scarody of Walt Disney’s Steamboat Willie features a murderous two foot tall mouse onboard a New York ferry as he - laughing maniacally all the way to the next kill sequence - takes out one unlucky passenger after another.
Thank God for public domain horror! But, seriously, there’s an art to pulling this parody off and LaMorte knows the secret: never take yourself seriously. And Screamboat - as the Staten Island Ferry becomes the playground for this mischievous mouse with murder on its mind - does exactly that: whistling while it works!
It operates as both a love letter to all things Disney and to the slasher genre as a clothing designer named Selena (Allison Pittell) finds herself in the role of the Final Girl onboard a ferry with partying Disney princesses and a demonic mouse. There’s not much to the plot, but the film is filled with all sorts of ghoulish gags and Disney-themed references that are sure to twist the heads of some audiences . . . and, honestly, help make this slasher a whole lot of dumb fun.
Co-starring Amy Schumacher (“The Mean One”), Jesse Posey (“Selena”), Jesse Kove (“Cobra Kai”), Kailey Hyman (“Terrifier 2”), Rumi C Jean-Louis (“Hightown”), Jarlath Conroy (George A. Romero’s “Day of the Dead”), and Charles Edwin Powell (“The Exorcist III”), with cameos from Tyler Posey (“Teen Wolf”), Brian Quinn (“Impractical Jokers”), and stand-up comedian Joe DeRosa (“Better Call Saul”), Screamboat fulfills its mission to entertain with a pitch-black slant to its humor.
Copying the original cartoon and tipping its hat to all the Disney princesses out there - complete with soundalike names and costumes to match - Screamboat is a rather clever horror movie that - while low in budget - never once misses the high water mark of its hilariously violent intentions.
Throughout the movie, the kills are creative and the characters are as cardboard as you’d expect them to be. Everyone and everything is disposable, but it works to service a horror movie that is not that opposed to presenting this killer as a puppet as flesh is feasted upon, captains are decapitated, and human passengers harpooned! And that’s not even half of the kills mentioned.
The film is produced by Amy Schumacher, Martine Melloul, Steven LaMorte, Steven Della Salla, and Michael Leavy, with executive production by Kali Pictures, Sleight of Hand Productions, Reckless Content, and Julien Didon. The film opened in cinemas nationwide from Iconic Events Releasing, and its digital and home video release are courtesy of DeskPop Entertainment, who also handle worldwide sales for the picture.
Screamboat slayed its way through over 600 cinemas across America last month and arrives on VOD, Blu-ray, and DVD this Friday!
MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime: 102 mins
Director: Steven LaMorte
Writer: Matthew Garcia-Dunn; Steven LaMorte
Cast: Tyler Posey; David Howard Thornton; Sarah Kopkin
Genre: Horror
Tagline: Full Scream Ahead
Memorable Movie Quote: "We're all gonna die!"
Distributor: Iconic Events Releasing
Official Site: https://steamboatwilliehorrormovie.com/
Release Date: April 2, 2025
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: On the last ferry of the night in New York, passengers and crew are hunted by a merciless rat, and what should have been a peaceful crossing turns into a bloody massacre.
