WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.360 I want you to picture the most bizarre juxtaposition 00:00:04.360 --> 00:00:07.299 imaginable. Okay, color me intrigued. So what 00:00:07.299 --> 00:00:12.390 happens when a beloved like nearly 100 -year 00:00:12.390 --> 00:00:16.230 -old cultural icon of pure, unadulterated childhood 00:00:16.230 --> 00:00:19.030 innocence suddenly loses its legal protection. 00:00:19.410 --> 00:00:21.149 You'd think you get a heartwarming tribute, right? 00:00:21.289 --> 00:00:23.870 Exactly. But you do not get a heartwarming tribute. 00:00:24.250 --> 00:00:27.769 What you get is a mutant, homicidal mouse wielding 00:00:27.769 --> 00:00:30.710 a blowtorch on a Staten Island ferry owned by 00:00:30.710 --> 00:00:33.490 Pete Davidson. It is, I mean, it's the ultimate 00:00:33.490 --> 00:00:36.549 collision of wholesome nostalgia and absolute... 00:00:36.429 --> 00:00:39.609 messy modern chaos. It really is. So welcome 00:00:39.609 --> 00:00:41.869 to today's deep dive. Today we're focusing on 00:00:41.869 --> 00:00:45.390 the 2025 American comedy horror film Screamboat, 00:00:45.829 --> 00:00:48.229 directed by Steven Lamour. And we've got a fantastic 00:00:48.229 --> 00:00:50.109 stack of sources here to go through. Yeah, they 00:00:50.109 --> 00:00:52.070 provide a really comprehensive look at the film's 00:00:52.070 --> 00:00:55.229 production, its wildly subversive plot, and the 00:00:55.229 --> 00:00:57.170 critical reception it received when it hit theaters. 00:00:57.390 --> 00:00:59.649 But our mission today isn't just to recap a slasher 00:00:59.649 --> 00:01:01.950 movie, right? No, definitely not. We are going 00:01:01.950 --> 00:01:04.590 to explore how filmmakers weaponize public domain 00:01:04.590 --> 00:01:07.409 law to create what the industry calls splat stick 00:01:07.409 --> 00:01:09.530 horror. And just to define that term for you 00:01:09.530 --> 00:01:12.189 right out of the gate, splat stick, is that highly 00:01:12.189 --> 00:01:15.349 specific, highly visceral collision of slapstick, 00:01:15.950 --> 00:01:18.989 physical comedy, and extreme practical gore. 00:01:19.129 --> 00:01:21.790 Right, like early Peter Jackson films. Exactly. 00:01:21.969 --> 00:01:24.420 Dead Alive, Bad Taste, that kind of energy. And 00:01:24.420 --> 00:01:26.739 we're going to look at what this bizarre cinematic 00:01:26.739 --> 00:01:30.400 experiment actually reveals about our modern 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:33.180 relationship with nostalgic intellectual property. 00:01:33.359 --> 00:01:36.420 Yeah, we're unpacking the legal shifts, the hyper 00:01:36.420 --> 00:01:38.920 authentic settings required to make the absurdity 00:01:38.920 --> 00:01:41.560 work. And, you know, the twisted psychology of 00:01:41.560 --> 00:01:45.290 turning what we loved as kids into. the monsters 00:01:45.290 --> 00:01:48.049 of our nightmares. So, before we get to the blood 00:01:48.049 --> 00:01:49.870 and the guts on the boat, we have to start with 00:01:49.870 --> 00:01:52.010 the legal reality that actually made this movie 00:01:52.010 --> 00:01:53.769 possible. Right, the exploration of copyright. 00:01:54.129 --> 00:01:57.189 Okay, let's unpack this. On January 1st, 2024, 00:01:57.730 --> 00:01:59.730 the Steamboat Willie version of Mickey Mouse 00:01:59.730 --> 00:02:01.969 officially entered the public domain. Which, 00:02:02.109 --> 00:02:04.030 I should point out, is a very specific legal 00:02:04.030 --> 00:02:07.030 boundary. It meant the Walt Disney Company no 00:02:07.030 --> 00:02:09.650 longer had exclusive rights to that specific 00:02:09.650 --> 00:02:12.210 1928 iteration of the character. Just that one 00:02:12.210 --> 00:02:15.139 version, right? Exactly. The modern versions, 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:18.039 the red shorts, the white gloves, the high pitched 00:02:18.039 --> 00:02:21.159 voice, those are still fiercely protected by 00:02:21.159 --> 00:02:23.159 trademark and copyright. Oh, definitely. They 00:02:23.159 --> 00:02:25.500 will come for you if you touch the modern stuff. 00:02:25.620 --> 00:02:28.979 They absolutely will. But that early black and 00:02:28.979 --> 00:02:32.400 white whistling riverboat captain that was suddenly 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:34.960 free for anyone in the public to use without 00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:37.530 permission. And when we say suddenly, we mean 00:02:37.530 --> 00:02:40.930 immediately. Exactly one day later, on January 00:02:40.930 --> 00:02:44.229 2nd, 2024, Screamboat was announced. The timeline 00:02:44.229 --> 00:02:46.509 is staggering. They wasted no time at all. Not 00:02:46.509 --> 00:02:49.069 a single second. But looking at our sources, 00:02:49.349 --> 00:02:51.189 there is a major misconception I want to clear 00:02:51.189 --> 00:02:53.050 up for you. Oh, about the creators' motives. 00:02:53.229 --> 00:02:55.530 Yeah. Because you would assume a movie like this 00:02:55.530 --> 00:02:58.509 is made by people who harbor a deep, burning 00:02:58.509 --> 00:03:01.050 hatred for the Disney brand. Like, just cynical 00:03:01.050 --> 00:03:03.090 opportunists who want to tear down the house 00:03:03.090 --> 00:03:05.210 that the mouse built. Right, that's the natural 00:03:05.210 --> 00:03:07.449 assumption. Yet the sources tell a completely 00:03:07.449 --> 00:03:10.150 different story. They really do. Director Steven 00:03:10.150 --> 00:03:12.370 Lamorte and his co -writer Matthew Garcia Dunn 00:03:12.370 --> 00:03:15.110 are not Disney haters at all. In fact, Lamorte 00:03:15.110 --> 00:03:18.650 explicitly calls himself a Deep Cuts Disney fanboy. 00:03:18.990 --> 00:03:22.150 Yeah, he actually grew up wanting to be an Imagineer. 00:03:22.360 --> 00:03:25.960 Wait, really? An Imagineer? Yes. And he deeply 00:03:25.960 --> 00:03:28.699 admired Walt Disney as an inventor and a storyteller. 00:03:28.900 --> 00:03:30.979 That is wild to me. It's like finding the keys 00:03:30.979 --> 00:03:33.599 to a pristine, classic car that's been locked 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:36.659 in a garage for 95 years. But instead of taking 00:03:36.659 --> 00:03:39.879 it for a respectful joyride, you decided to intentionally 00:03:39.879 --> 00:03:42.860 enter it into a demolition derby. That's a perfect 00:03:42.860 --> 00:03:46.560 analogy. So I have to ask... Why would a super 00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:49.240 fan want to turn something they supposedly love 00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:52.199 into a horrifying blood -soaked monster? Well, 00:03:52.199 --> 00:03:54.719 what's fascinating here is that true subversion 00:03:54.719 --> 00:03:58.159 is almost always born out of deep intimate knowledge. 00:03:58.460 --> 00:04:00.659 What do you mean by that? If you don't actually 00:04:00.659 --> 00:04:02.699 understand the mechanics of why people love the 00:04:02.699 --> 00:04:06.120 source material, your parody or your horror adaptation 00:04:06.120 --> 00:04:09.139 will just feel hollow. It will feel like a cheap 00:04:09.139 --> 00:04:11.879 shot. I see. It lacks the emotional weight. Exactly. 00:04:12.030 --> 00:04:14.909 Lamorte layered this film with obscure Easter 00:04:14.909 --> 00:04:17.610 eggs that only a true die -hard fan would know 00:04:17.610 --> 00:04:20.149 to include, because he is one. For instance, 00:04:20.370 --> 00:04:22.509 the source's mission a very specific numerical 00:04:22.509 --> 00:04:24.189 reference hidden in the background of the film. 00:04:24.589 --> 00:04:27.089 Yes, he specifically framed an appearance of 00:04:27.089 --> 00:04:29.230 the number 33. Okay, and why does that matter? 00:04:29.790 --> 00:04:32.529 A casual horror fan wouldn't even blanket that 00:04:32.529 --> 00:04:35.970 number. But a Disney fanboy knows exactly what 00:04:35.970 --> 00:04:39.720 that means. It's a direct reference to Club 33. 00:04:40.180 --> 00:04:43.079 Oh, the super exclusive secret VIP club hidden 00:04:43.079 --> 00:04:46.180 inside the Disney parks. Precisely. Which proves 00:04:46.180 --> 00:04:49.220 he knows the lore inside and out. To properly 00:04:49.220 --> 00:04:51.420 deconstruct something, to turn it inside out 00:04:51.420 --> 00:04:53.420 and make it terrifying, you have to know how 00:04:53.420 --> 00:04:54.860 it was built in the first place. You have to 00:04:54.860 --> 00:04:57.720 understand the load -bearing walls of VIP. Right. 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:00.720 LaMorde's admiration for the mechanics of the 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:03.319 original animations and the theme parks is exactly 00:05:03.319 --> 00:05:06.060 what allowed him to dismantle those exact things 00:05:06.060 --> 00:05:08.420 so effectively. Because you cannot effectively 00:05:08.420 --> 00:05:10.220 break the rules until you have mastered them. 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:13.199 Completely agree. And that pursuit of doing things 00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:15.680 correctly, of grounding the fantasy, is what 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:18.230 drove the production design of the film. Because 00:05:18.230 --> 00:05:20.269 you cannot just put a guy in a mutant mouse suit 00:05:20.269 --> 00:05:22.790 anywhere and expect it to be scary. No, the environment 00:05:22.790 --> 00:05:25.410 has to anchor the fantasy. Right. If you have 00:05:25.410 --> 00:05:28.949 a cartoon monster, the setting for his rampage 00:05:28.949 --> 00:05:32.350 has to be incredibly aggressively real. The setting 00:05:32.350 --> 00:05:34.230 is the straight man to the monster's punchline. 00:05:34.329 --> 00:05:36.170 That's a great way to put it. And they found 00:05:36.170 --> 00:05:39.009 the ultimate straight man. The movie takes place 00:05:39.009 --> 00:05:41.689 almost entirely on a Staten Island ferry named 00:05:41.689 --> 00:05:44.629 Mortimer. Which is such a brilliant location 00:05:44.629 --> 00:05:49.019 choice. It is. And this wasn't some plywood soundstage 00:05:49.019 --> 00:05:51.899 built in a studio with green screens. This was 00:05:51.899 --> 00:05:56.339 a bright orange, real deal, decommissioned Staten 00:05:56.339 --> 00:05:59.459 Island ferry. And not just any ferry. No. To 00:05:59.459 --> 00:06:02.120 add a surreal layer of pop culture trivia to 00:06:02.120 --> 00:06:05.160 an already surreal movie, it is the actual ferry 00:06:05.160 --> 00:06:07.600 owned by Saturday Night Live stars Colin Jost 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:10.000 and Pete Davidson. Which is just a magnificent 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:11.980 detail. I love that so much. The sources even 00:06:11.980 --> 00:06:14.139 note that the production used so much fake blood 00:06:14.139 --> 00:06:16.740 during filming that they had to hire a specialized 00:06:16.740 --> 00:06:19.399 cleaning crew afterward just to scrub down Pete 00:06:19.399 --> 00:06:21.639 Davidson's boat. I can only imagine that invoice. 00:06:21.740 --> 00:06:24.860 Right. But Lamorte and his wife Amy Schumacher, 00:06:24.980 --> 00:06:27.199 who actually stars in the movie as an EMT and 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:30.259 also produced it, they were absolutely relentless 00:06:30.259 --> 00:06:32.339 about getting the details of this setting right? 00:06:32.660 --> 00:06:35.579 Yeah, the sources say they rode the normal operating 00:06:35.579 --> 00:06:39.019 Staten Island ferry 15 to 20 times in a single 00:06:39.019 --> 00:06:42.339 day. 15 to 20 times. Just endlessly going back 00:06:42.339 --> 00:06:44.600 and forth across the New York harbor. Analyzing 00:06:44.600 --> 00:06:47.139 the architecture of a commuter boat. They were 00:06:47.139 --> 00:06:49.399 scouting for what they termed cartoon carnage. 00:06:49.500 --> 00:06:51.620 Looking at the little hatches, wondering where 00:06:51.620 --> 00:06:54.339 a mouse could realistically crawl out of. And 00:06:54.339 --> 00:06:57.300 exploring the surprisingly massive engine room 00:06:57.300 --> 00:06:59.720 that the public never gets to see. They even 00:06:59.720 --> 00:07:02.519 instructed the props department to use the genuine 00:07:02.519 --> 00:07:05.079 keep beer that is actually served at the Ferry's 00:07:05.079 --> 00:07:07.720 Liberty Cafe. It's all about the details. And 00:07:07.720 --> 00:07:10.360 the passengers reflect highly specific commuter 00:07:10.360 --> 00:07:13.360 archetypes, you know, Midwest transplants, loud 00:07:13.360 --> 00:07:15.920 party girls, street performers. They basically 00:07:15.920 --> 00:07:18.819 built a hyper authentic micro universe of New 00:07:18.819 --> 00:07:21.680 York transit. Which honestly makes the production 00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:24.480 logistics absolutely baffling to me. I'm struggling 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:26.839 with the reality of filming this. Oh, for sure 00:07:26.839 --> 00:07:28.860 it's a nightmare. You have a massive ensemble 00:07:28.860 --> 00:07:32.639 cast, practical gore effects, unpredictable maritime 00:07:32.639 --> 00:07:36.699 weather, and you are shooting on a floating decommissioned 00:07:36.699 --> 00:07:39.569 ferry in New York Harbor. Not an easy shoot. 00:07:39.930 --> 00:07:42.230 Why subject an independent film to that nightmare 00:07:42.230 --> 00:07:45.569 when you could easily build a controlled, generic 00:07:45.569 --> 00:07:48.430 boat set up in Canada where it is famously cheaper 00:07:48.430 --> 00:07:50.529 and easier to film? Well, it all comes back to 00:07:50.529 --> 00:07:52.410 that baseline of reality we were talking about. 00:07:52.649 --> 00:07:54.750 For a horror comedy to actually land with an 00:07:54.750 --> 00:07:58.089 audience, you need that stark contrast. OK, make 00:07:58.089 --> 00:08:00.310 it make sense. I will give you Lamorte's direct 00:08:00.310 --> 00:08:02.970 quote from the sources because it explains the 00:08:02.970 --> 00:08:05.350 psychology behind this logistical nightmare perfectly. 00:08:05.509 --> 00:08:09.209 He said, as a New Yorker, You just know. You 00:08:09.209 --> 00:08:11.370 can just tell. You can smell when it's Canada. 00:08:11.730 --> 00:08:14.129 You can just feel it when it is not right. Smell 00:08:14.129 --> 00:08:16.829 when it's Canada. That perfectly captures the 00:08:16.829 --> 00:08:18.910 instinctual feeling of watching a movie where 00:08:18.910 --> 00:08:21.389 the setting just feels slightly off. Exactly. 00:08:21.750 --> 00:08:23.730 If the boat feels like a fake Hollywood set, 00:08:24.350 --> 00:08:26.189 then a mutant mouse running around just feels 00:08:26.189 --> 00:08:28.709 like a cartoon superimposed on a cartoon background. 00:08:29.089 --> 00:08:32.129 It falls flat. It's just goofy. Right. But if 00:08:32.129 --> 00:08:35.169 the boat feels hyper real, if you as a viewer 00:08:35.370 --> 00:08:38.129 can practically smell the cheap beer, the sticky 00:08:38.129 --> 00:08:40.870 floors, and the harbor water, then the mutant 00:08:40.870 --> 00:08:43.669 mouse suddenly becomes a genuine surreal terror. 00:08:43.990 --> 00:08:46.649 The authenticity of the fairy is what sells the 00:08:46.649 --> 00:08:49.929 absurdity of the slasher. Nailed it. That hyper 00:08:49.929 --> 00:08:52.769 -realistic environment is the perfect stark canvas, 00:08:53.330 --> 00:08:55.830 which makes the completely unrealistic, trope 00:08:55.830 --> 00:08:58.669 -heavy characters who board the ship stand out 00:08:58.669 --> 00:09:01.950 even more. Because this film actively weaponizes 00:09:01.950 --> 00:09:04.730 classic, wholesome tropes, turning them into 00:09:04.730 --> 00:09:07.529 prime slasher fuel. And the character roster 00:09:07.529 --> 00:09:10.590 is a master class in navigating copyright loopholes 00:09:10.590 --> 00:09:12.889 while winking aggressively at the audience. Oh, 00:09:12.889 --> 00:09:15.429 they push the legal boundaries of parody right 00:09:15.429 --> 00:09:18.409 to the very edge. They really do. The main group 00:09:18.409 --> 00:09:20.769 of victims in the movie are a deeply twisted 00:09:20.769 --> 00:09:23.929 take on classic Disney princesses. Right, the 00:09:23.929 --> 00:09:25.529 bachelorette party or the birthday party? Yeah, 00:09:25.529 --> 00:09:27.429 we've got a birthday girl named Cindy, which 00:09:27.429 --> 00:09:30.429 is clearly Cinderella. There's Ariana for Ariel, 00:09:30.830 --> 00:09:33.669 Jazzy for Jasmine, Bella for Belle, Ilsa for 00:09:33.669 --> 00:09:36.730 Elsa, and Rory for Aurora. And if the names weren't 00:09:36.730 --> 00:09:39.250 enough, the costuming department leaned all the 00:09:39.250 --> 00:09:41.289 way into the visual cues. They weren't subtle 00:09:41.289 --> 00:09:44.250 about it. Not at all. Variety noted in their 00:09:44.250 --> 00:09:46.350 review that the girls are actually color -coded 00:09:46.350 --> 00:09:49.509 to match their animated counterparts. Cindy is 00:09:49.509 --> 00:09:52.850 dressed in blue. Belle is in yellow. Jazzy is 00:09:52.850 --> 00:09:55.029 in turquoise. And the references extend beyond 00:09:55.029 --> 00:09:57.990 the core group. Amy Schumacher's character, the 00:09:57.990 --> 00:10:01.669 EMT, is named Amber. A nod to Princess Amber 00:10:01.669 --> 00:10:04.250 from the series Sofia the First. There's even 00:10:04.250 --> 00:10:06.970 a fairy employee named Pete, referencing the 00:10:06.970 --> 00:10:10.190 original 1920s antagonist Pegleg Pete. So good. 00:10:10.379 --> 00:10:13.000 And the villain himself, the sentient, humanoid 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:15.639 mutant mouse, is played by David Howard Thornton. 00:10:15.840 --> 00:10:19.000 Which is huge for horror fans. Yes. For anyone 00:10:19.000 --> 00:10:20.960 familiar with modern indie horror, Thornton is 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:23.159 known as Art the Clown from the Terrifier films. 00:10:23.299 --> 00:10:25.139 Which is brilliant casting for a project like 00:10:25.139 --> 00:10:27.759 this. Thornton is known for a very specific, 00:10:28.220 --> 00:10:31.240 silent, pantomime style of acting. Ray, he doesn't 00:10:31.240 --> 00:10:33.960 talk. He doesn't rely on dialogue to convey menace. 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:36.320 He relies on exaggerated physical movements, 00:10:36.379 --> 00:10:39.039 which fits a corrupted 1920s cartoon character 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:41.730 perfectly. And Bolton's physical comedy is what 00:10:41.730 --> 00:10:43.789 drives the kills, because we're talking about 00:10:43.789 --> 00:10:47.289 pure, unadulterated cartoon carnage executed 00:10:47.289 --> 00:10:49.610 entirely with practical effects. The gore in 00:10:49.610 --> 00:10:52.769 this is wild. Steamboat Willie uses a forklift 00:10:52.769 --> 00:10:56.309 to impale Jazzy and Ariana. He crushes the first 00:10:56.309 --> 00:10:58.529 mate Tommy's head with a heavy monitor. It's 00:10:58.529 --> 00:11:01.049 so brutal. And at one point Willie stops an angry 00:11:01.049 --> 00:11:03.370 mob of New Yorkers by spraying them down with 00:11:03.370 --> 00:11:06.730 a fire hose and then triggers a power box to 00:11:06.730 --> 00:11:09.409 mass electrocute everyone standing in the water. 00:11:10.210 --> 00:11:12.470 That is the splastic element functioning at its 00:11:12.470 --> 00:11:16.730 peak. It is gruesome. undeniably, but the mechanics 00:11:16.730 --> 00:11:19.370 of it, using a hose and a power box to take out 00:11:19.370 --> 00:11:22.809 a crowd, feel exactly like a dark, twisted Linney 00:11:22.809 --> 00:11:25.769 Toons gag brought into the real world. Here's 00:11:25.769 --> 00:11:27.470 where it gets really interesting, though. It's 00:11:27.470 --> 00:11:29.750 not just the visual gags that subvert the source 00:11:29.750 --> 00:11:32.570 material, it's the dialogue. Catchphrases. Yes. 00:11:33.029 --> 00:11:35.649 The script features these incredibly dark drops 00:11:35.649 --> 00:11:38.730 of famous, beloved catchphrases. I want you to 00:11:38.730 --> 00:11:40.909 imagine the cognitive dissonance of hearing a 00:11:40.909 --> 00:11:43.409 phrase like, it's a small world after all, or 00:11:43.409 --> 00:11:46.169 be our guest, or let it go, right before someone 00:11:46.169 --> 00:11:48.669 gets brutally murdered with a harpoon or a blowtorch. 00:11:48.710 --> 00:11:51.070 It is a deliberate hijacking of the audience's 00:11:51.070 --> 00:11:54.159 neural pathways. Hijacking, exactly. When you 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:57.539 hear Be Our Guest, your brain is conditioned 00:11:57.539 --> 00:12:00.220 by decades of pop culture to expect a grand, 00:12:00.600 --> 00:12:03.419 comforting musical number. Your guard drops. 00:12:03.620 --> 00:12:06.659 You feel safe. Right. So by following that audio 00:12:06.659 --> 00:12:09.659 cue with absolute on -screen butchery, the filmmakers 00:12:09.659 --> 00:12:13.919 create a jarring psychological whiplash. You're 00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:16.539 hearing the language of childhood comfort, but 00:12:16.539 --> 00:12:18.659 you are seeing the imagery of an adult nightmare. 00:12:19.179 --> 00:12:21.659 And the film... takes that emotional manipulation 00:12:21.659 --> 00:12:23.980 a step further by actually trying to make you 00:12:23.980 --> 00:12:26.399 feel empathy for the monster. Which is a classic 00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:30.019 trope. Yeah. There's a scene where an old 1960s 00:12:30.019 --> 00:12:33.080 fairy deckhand named Barry gives Willie this 00:12:33.080 --> 00:12:36.409 incredibly tragic backstory. Barry explains that 00:12:36.409 --> 00:12:38.889 mad scientists experimented on Willy for years 00:12:38.889 --> 00:12:41.350 until a kind -hearted captain named Walter Captain 00:12:41.350 --> 00:12:43.809 Wall obviously rescued him. Naturally. Wall took 00:12:43.809 --> 00:12:45.789 pity on the creature, befriended him, and set 00:12:45.789 --> 00:12:47.950 him free, but then Willy vanished after some 00:12:47.950 --> 00:12:50.490 mysterious tragedy. Which perfectly sets up the 00:12:50.490 --> 00:12:52.870 thematic climax of the film. We learn that the 00:12:52.870 --> 00:12:55.289 tragedy that drove Willy way was losing his female 00:12:55.289 --> 00:12:58.110 mate. Her disappearance is what broke his mind 00:12:58.110 --> 00:13:01.250 and turned him evil. He hijacked the fairy not 00:13:01.250 --> 00:13:04.470 just to kill, but to search for her. So Selena, 00:13:04.750 --> 00:13:07.149 our bartender protagonist who has dreams of being 00:13:07.149 --> 00:13:10.230 an artist, figures out this psychology. She uses 00:13:10.230 --> 00:13:13.090 a trunk of old theater costumes to dress up exactly 00:13:13.090 --> 00:13:15.649 like Willie's lost love. She tricks him? She 00:13:15.649 --> 00:13:18.529 tricks him. During their confrontation, he knocks 00:13:18.529 --> 00:13:20.909 her over the ferry railing and he flashes back 00:13:20.909 --> 00:13:24.269 to his mate drowning in the exact same way. The 00:13:24.269 --> 00:13:26.490 monster actually has a moment of genuine empathy 00:13:26.490 --> 00:13:29.750 and pulls Selena back to safety. The film actively 00:13:29.750 --> 00:13:32.850 weaponizes the tropes of classic animation against 00:13:32.850 --> 00:13:35.429 the audience here. It gives the monster a romantic 00:13:35.429 --> 00:13:38.570 backstory, a lost love, and a moment of redemption. 00:13:38.909 --> 00:13:40.809 All the ingredients that traditionally earned 00:13:40.809 --> 00:13:43.129 the beast a happily ever after. But how does 00:13:43.129 --> 00:13:45.649 Selena repay that moment of classic emotional 00:13:45.649 --> 00:13:48.210 resonance? By exploiting his empathy to get close 00:13:48.210 --> 00:13:50.009 enough to stab him directly in the head with 00:13:50.009 --> 00:13:52.409 a pair of scissors. He falls into the water, 00:13:52.690 --> 00:13:55.190 seemingly dead. Though of course, in a classic 00:13:55.190 --> 00:13:57.730 post -credits scene, we hear Pete on the radio 00:13:57.730 --> 00:14:00.110 proving he's still alive. And we see Willie on 00:14:00.110 --> 00:14:02.929 a trash barge, finally reuniting with his lost 00:14:02.929 --> 00:14:05.710 love. That climax synthesizes the entire point 00:14:05.710 --> 00:14:08.409 of the movie. Instead of rewarding empathy, it 00:14:08.409 --> 00:14:11.190 subverts the genre entirely with a gruesome execution. 00:14:11.230 --> 00:14:13.690 It's so dark. It uses the narrative rules of 00:14:13.690 --> 00:14:16.450 a fairy tale to lower your defenses, and then 00:14:16.450 --> 00:14:18.870 applies the brutal logic of a slasher film. It 00:14:18.870 --> 00:14:21.809 is a fascinating structural exercise, but we 00:14:21.809 --> 00:14:24.470 have to ask the ultimate question. The movie 00:14:24.470 --> 00:14:27.070 clearly achieves its goal of practical cartoon 00:14:27.070 --> 00:14:29.669 carnage, but did critics and audiences actually 00:14:29.669 --> 00:14:32.610 buy into this subversive experiment? The numbers 00:14:32.610 --> 00:14:35.110 in the reviews give us a pretty clear, if highly 00:14:35.110 --> 00:14:37.590 polarized, picture of how this landed with the 00:14:37.590 --> 00:14:39.929 culture. Okay, let's look at the stats. Screamboat 00:14:39.929 --> 00:14:43.149 released theatrically on April 2nd, 2025. It 00:14:43.149 --> 00:14:46.850 grossed $393 ,011 at the box office. Not bad. 00:14:47.210 --> 00:14:50.250 Now, for a micro -budget indie horror film shot 00:14:50.250 --> 00:14:53.149 on a boat, that is a specific kind of financial 00:14:53.149 --> 00:14:56.500 success. But the critical reception was decidedly 00:14:56.500 --> 00:14:59.220 split down the middle. It is sitting at 51 % 00:14:59.220 --> 00:15:03.299 on Rotten Tomatoes and a 44 out of 100 on Metacritic. 00:15:03.379 --> 00:15:06.899 A true polarizing piece of media. Variety actually 00:15:06.899 --> 00:15:08.940 seemed to really get a kick out of it. They highlighted 00:15:08.940 --> 00:15:11.419 that splat stick vibe we discussed, and they 00:15:11.419 --> 00:15:13.399 specifically noted that the movie provides an 00:15:13.399 --> 00:15:15.899 illicit thrill in desecrating powerful brands. 00:15:16.440 --> 00:15:19.240 Screen rant also gave it props, praising the 00:15:19.240 --> 00:15:22.080 shockingly gory practical effects and prosthetics 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:25.059 that gave it that campy late -night B -film feel. 00:15:25.480 --> 00:15:27.700 But then you look at a prominent horror publication 00:15:27.700 --> 00:15:30.389 like bloody disgusting. And their take is much 00:15:30.389 --> 00:15:32.789 more cautious. They gave it two out of five stars. 00:15:33.289 --> 00:15:35.070 They admitted that the violence is enough to 00:15:35.070 --> 00:15:38.110 make Disney purists rage and Disney objectors 00:15:38.110 --> 00:15:40.830 snicker. They gave the director points for sheer 00:15:40.830 --> 00:15:44.169 enthusiasm, but they offered a strong warning. 00:15:44.570 --> 00:15:47.070 As a subversive slapstick comedy, the novelty 00:15:47.070 --> 00:15:50.110 loses its appeal sooner rather than later. Ah, 00:15:50.149 --> 00:15:52.970 I see. So what does this all mean? I want to 00:15:52.970 --> 00:15:55.070 push back on that Variety review for a second. 00:15:55.320 --> 00:15:57.960 I hear that they praise the illicit thrill of 00:15:57.960 --> 00:16:00.860 desecrating a powerful brand, but I am struggling 00:16:00.860 --> 00:16:02.779 to see how that is sustainable. You think it's 00:16:02.779 --> 00:16:04.980 a gimmick. Isn't this just a gimmick? Once I 00:16:04.980 --> 00:16:07.240 see the mouse use a blowtorch once, the shock 00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:10.700 wears off. I find myself leaning more toward 00:16:10.700 --> 00:16:13.100 bloody disgusting's take that this kind of novelty 00:16:13.100 --> 00:16:15.600 has a very short shelf life. Well, if we connect 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:17.759 this to the bigger picture, you are absolutely 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:20.639 right that a visual gag can wear thin. The shock 00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:22.799 value of a mouse with a weapon has diminishing 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:26.000 returns. Yeah, exactly. But Variety hit on something 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:28.500 crucial in their conclusion that goes beyond 00:16:28.500 --> 00:16:31.980 just a cheap thrill. They argued that as grisly 00:16:31.980 --> 00:16:35.320 and incredibly violent as Screamboat is, it arguably 00:16:35.320 --> 00:16:38.379 feels less disrespectful to the original intellectual 00:16:38.379 --> 00:16:41.860 property than many of the safe, sanitized, corporate 00:16:41.860 --> 00:16:44.539 -mandated live -action reboots we see flooding 00:16:44.539 --> 00:16:47.779 the theaters every year. Wow. Less disrespectful 00:16:47.779 --> 00:16:50.220 than the official studio -sanctioned reboots. 00:16:50.360 --> 00:16:52.600 That is a heavy critique of modern Hollywood. 00:16:52.759 --> 00:16:55.539 It is. But think about the mechanism behind it. 00:16:56.120 --> 00:16:59.100 A sanitized corporate reboot often strips away 00:16:59.100 --> 00:17:01.879 the soul and the unique artistry of the original 00:17:01.879 --> 00:17:05.079 work just to create a safe, easily marketable 00:17:05.079 --> 00:17:07.019 consumer product. Right. They just want to sell 00:17:07.019 --> 00:17:10.180 toys. It treats the IP like an asset in a vault. 00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:13.079 Screamboat, on the other hand, is made by independent 00:17:13.079 --> 00:17:15.740 super fans. They understand the mechanics of 00:17:15.740 --> 00:17:18.240 the original so deeply that they can twist it 00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:21.339 into a new, passionate, albeit grotesque piece 00:17:21.339 --> 00:17:24.420 of independent art. It's an act of genuine creation. 00:17:24.940 --> 00:17:27.059 Exactly, even if the subject matter is destruction. 00:17:27.640 --> 00:17:29.779 They are treating these characters not as corporate 00:17:29.779 --> 00:17:33.000 assets, but as a shared cultural mythology, much 00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:35.380 like how ancient cultures would continually reinvent 00:17:35.380 --> 00:17:37.880 and twist the stories of their gods and monsters. 00:17:38.379 --> 00:17:40.880 That is fascinating. And this raises an important 00:17:40.880 --> 00:17:43.700 question for all of us. Who actually owns pop 00:17:43.700 --> 00:17:45.839 culture once it enters the public domain? That's 00:17:45.839 --> 00:17:47.740 the million dollar question. Does it belong to 00:17:47.740 --> 00:17:49.660 the corporation that locked it in a vault for 00:17:49.660 --> 00:17:51.779 95 years, or does it belong to the culture that 00:17:51.779 --> 00:17:53.980 grew up with it, the people who now want to process 00:17:53.980 --> 00:17:56.440 those childhood memories through the lens of 00:17:56.440 --> 00:17:58.720 adult horror? Well, the law dictates that it 00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:01.380 belongs to the public now. And the public apparently 00:18:01.380 --> 00:18:03.819 wants to put it on a Staten Island ferry, hand 00:18:03.819 --> 00:18:06.420 it a harpoon, and see what happens. And the experiment 00:18:06.420 --> 00:18:09.619 is not stopping anytime soon. We've taken a wild 00:18:09.619 --> 00:18:11.660 journey today, starting from the expiration of 00:18:11.660 --> 00:18:14.700 a 1928 copyright, moving through the logistics 00:18:14.700 --> 00:18:17.200 of shooting on a blood -soaked commuter ferry, 00:18:17.480 --> 00:18:19.700 and analyzing how a team of passionate filmmakers 00:18:19.700 --> 00:18:22.900 used hyper -realistic settings and splastic humor 00:18:22.900 --> 00:18:26.240 to completely upend one of the most guarded cultural 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:30.240 icons in history. It's been a ride. And the cinematic 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:33.059 universe of public domain terror is only expanding 00:18:33.059 --> 00:18:35.599 as more copyrights expire. Oh, absolutely. Yes, 00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:38.880 it is. As a final update from our sources, a 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:41.140 sequel is already in active development. It is 00:18:41.140 --> 00:18:43.740 officially titled Screamboat 2, Nothing Stays 00:18:43.740 --> 00:18:46.720 Dead. And this time around, Minnie Mouse is joining 00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:49.140 the bloodbath. The legal and creative floodgates 00:18:49.140 --> 00:18:52.559 are wide open. They truly are. So as we wrap 00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:54.700 up this deep dive into the sources, I want to 00:18:54.700 --> 00:18:56.519 leave you with a final thought to mull over. 00:18:57.019 --> 00:18:59.180 A little homework for the listener. Exactly. 00:18:59.579 --> 00:19:02.779 We've spent a lot of time analyzing the psychological 00:19:02.779 --> 00:19:06.220 thrill of desecrating these powerful nostalgic 00:19:06.220 --> 00:19:09.599 brands. Think about your own favorite childhood 00:19:09.599 --> 00:19:12.839 characters, the ones that brought you pure, unadulterated 00:19:12.839 --> 00:19:14.599 comfort when you were young. The ones you felt 00:19:14.599 --> 00:19:17.029 safe with. Right. When you look back at them 00:19:17.029 --> 00:19:19.890 now through an adult lens, which ones are you 00:19:19.890 --> 00:19:22.190 secretly waiting to see turned into monsters? 00:19:22.250 --> 00:19:24.210 Good question. And more importantly, what does 00:19:24.210 --> 00:19:27.210 our modern insatiable appetite for destroying 00:19:27.210 --> 00:19:29.190 the very things we used to love actually say 00:19:29.190 --> 00:19:32.150 about us? Are we just craving cheap novelty, 00:19:32.329 --> 00:19:34.690 or is this how we reconcile the sheltered innocence 00:19:34.690 --> 00:19:37.849 of our past with the chaotic reality of our present? 00:19:38.049 --> 00:19:40.630 It is a perfect mirror for the culture. Thank 00:19:40.630 --> 00:19:42.450 you so much for joining us on this deep dive 00:19:42.450 --> 00:19:44.630 into the sources today. We wish you well and 00:19:44.630 --> 00:19:46.930 we'll be waiting right here for our next exploration.