WFG RATING: D

Gravitas Ventures presents a Dystopian Films production in association with Into Frame Productions. Cinematography, edited, and directed by Jamie Bailey. Produced by Jamie Bailey, Simon Phillips, and Mem Ferda. Written by Simon Phillips. 

Stars Simon Phillips, Sophie McIntosh, Madeline Kelman, Ben Harris, Callum Sywyk, Mireille Gagne, James Laurin, Kayleigh Styles, Mackenzie Mills, Damir Kovic, and Nick Biskupek.

It was inevitable that Steamboat Willie would eventually have his own horror film and despite a few good moments here, this one is inevitably bad.

Alex is working at a local interactive arcade along with her friend Jayna. Tim, the manager of the place, tells the two that eight people have paid to come after hours for a three hour event and asks if they can stay on and will get the extra time for their work and cleanup. Knowing she needs the money, Alex agrees as does Jayna before she leaves to go on a date. Alex soon learns the eight people are her boyfriend and friends who throw her a surprise early birthday party. 

Meanwhile, Tim begins to watch Steamboat Willie on a projector and finds himself possessed by an malevolent spirit. Donning a Steamboat Willie mask, Tim becomes Mickey and goes after the group one by one. Having the ability to teleport and having a phobia of strobe lights, Mickey hunts down the party goers one-by-one. Suspicions are raised as to who the killer is, but this is one mouse who won’t go down without a fight nor will whoever is left. 

When Steamboat Willie, the original form of who would be known since as Mickey Mouse, it was inevitable someone would turn him into a horror character. Directed by Jamie Bailey and written by Simon Phillips (who also plays Mickey), this had some potential to be a pretty good film. However, it seems like this was shot very quickly and it just felt like a total failure and seems to have gone a route where the filmmakers were like, “let’s just make this a Steamboat Willie in a Five Nights at Freddy’s location” type of movie. 

Sophie McIntosh tries her best to carry the film as Alex, the young arcade worker who is celebrating her “birthday” with her friends where we see two guys pining for her affection. This includes her hockey playing boyfriend Ryan, played by Ben Harris, and horror nut Marcus, played by Callum Sywyk. The other characters are somewhat tropey, including the promiscuous Jackie and Paul, outspoken Gemma, goth girl Rebecca, and the pretty level headed Paul. 

The kills are a mixed bag with some being done off-screen and some on-screen with what looks like a combination of practical and digital effects with the latter looking pretty hokey at times. Even some of the performances by some of the supporting characters seem a bit meh and over the top at times, as if the tropes are there just to be there and not really offer anything original other than the fact this is a killer in a Steamboat Willie mask. 

The Mouse Trap had potential but ultimately fails due to nothing really being original and the kills are a ho-hum effort. A cash-in attempt on a classic Disney character as a serial killer just ends up disappointed. Here’s hoping Steven LaMorte’s Screamboat fares better next year.

The film was originally titled “Mickey’s Mouse Trap”, but was altered due to complaints from Disney. The film can be seen on Peacock.