Screamboat is a 2025 horror/comedy film directed by Steven LaMorte and starring Allison Pittel, Amy Schumacher, Jesse Posey, and David Howard Thorton as Steamboat Willie. The story follows a group of passengers on a night ride on a Staten Island Ferry that is set to be soon decommissioned. The setting being in New York waters had no real precedent on the film necessarily, but I enjoyed it. The sights, skyline, accents, you don’t see as many movies set in New York now it feels like, so it was just kind of fun. Anyways, just a quick sidebar. After a couple panels are taken off on the lower level of the ship by some of the crew members, they unknowingly let out a seemingly harmless mouse who turns out to be a bloodthirsty monster on a path for vengeance.
This is one of the latest in the “This Disney property just went to public domain so let’s make a horror movie out of it” kind of films, but I feel like this one did it right. What I mean is it knew what it was and knew what it wanted to do and never once took itself too seriously, like at all. It delivered bad, over the top acting, silly character moments, bloody & gory kills, and hit all the “Steamboat Willie” troupes, down to him whistling his tunes and even steering the ferry on top of a bloody corpse at one point. They kept Willie small and cartoonish most of the time too which added to the schlock factor of it all as well. This movie just had fun and that’s what everyone that flips this kind of movie on is looking for, dumb and silly fun. Now, I’ve heard a lot of internet gripes that ‘Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey’ didn’t do that and tried to make itself too serious and scary and suffered because of it so they kind of backtracked and had more fun in Part 2. I recently watched ‘Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare’ as well and I can tell you for a fact that movie is much darker and more twisted than it is a fun time.
I understand that you could easily turn Peter Pan’s story and ‘Neverland’ into something dark and scary, but I still expected a sort of magical whimsy to it considering it’s Peter freaking Pan for crying out loud. But oh no no, Peter is basically the night stalker now, murdering families and abducting children and Tinkerbell is a brainwashed captive who’s addicted to heroin. What the hell bro?! Way too dark for something that should inherently have some silly fun and whimsy to it, at least in my opinion. I realize some people may have enjoyed that movie and the route it took, and don’t get me wrong because I enjoy some dark horror films, but when you’re turning a Disney property into a horror film just have some fun and deliver some gore and don’t intentionally try to ruin everyone’s childhood classics. Screamboat on the other hand knew what it was and went for it, hitting all the Disney winks along the way as well. There was a group of 20’s-something girls that were taking the boat into the city for one of their birthdays and they all wore dresses and had hair to resemble Disney princesses. Cindi (Cinderella), Ariana (Ariel), Jazzy (Jasmine), Bella (Belle), Isla (Elsa), and Rory (Aurora), and yes I just had to look up all their names to make sure I was getting them all. That’s what I mean though, there were so many silly little nods like that throughout it that it was hard to even catch on to them all and still pay attention.
These people just had fun making the movie and it came through the screen. They weren’t the best or most believable actors, and they didn’t need to be for a movie like this to work. It’s not going to bring home any awards from the Academy, but there’s a very specific fanbase that is going to love and cherish a movie like this. David Howard Thorton (Art the Clown) delivered in his typical hammy, over-the-top, silent way as Steamboat Willie as well and the kills were as brutal as they were funny at times. Know what you’re in for when you flip it on, but I’d recommend a movie like this for a gory, silly, over the top time if you’re ever in the mood for something like that. Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare on the other hand? I may hold off on that one, unless what I described above sounds like your kind of movie then have at it!
That’s all for this one though folks! Make sure to like and follow the page on social media or bookmark the website to keep up with all my latest posts over horror films, NFL football, WWE wrestling, and more!
