Mouse of Horrors review
Yes. Again.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Mouse of Horrors
Directed by Brendan Petrizzo
Written by Harry Boxley and Marc Gottlieb
Starring Natasha Tosini, Lewis Santer, Allie Moreno, Chris Lines, Stephen Staley, Danielle Scott and Michelle Bauer
Mouse of Horrors Review
If I told you that there were no less than five Mickey Mouse horror movies announced since the copyright on his original appearance in Steamboat Willie lapsed would that be higher or lower than you expected? First, from the director of DeInfluencer, came The Mouse Trap. It wasn’t good, of course…but it wasn’t a total disaster. Still to come we have Screamboat, Mouseboat Massacre and something called I Heart Willie. We covered The Mouse Trap so…what the Hell…let’s look at the latest cheap appropriation of the property, Mouse of Horrors. Maybe we’ll rank them after they’ve all come out. If we remember them long enough to do such a thing, of course.
Mouse of Horrors comes to us from the studio that popularized the public domain horror movie…ITN Studios. There are a few things worth noting about that. First of all, the three iterations of their “Poohniverse” have gotten better as they’ve gone on. Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare is a perfectly acceptable horror movie that just happens to utilize popular character concepts. Secondly, unlike those Winnie-the-Pooh and friends’ films that were released into theaters at full cost…Mouse of Horrors is available for free on Tubi. Lastly, and most puzzlingly, Mouse of Horrors isn’t the only Mickey Mouse public domain horror movie being released by this studio. In fact, Mouseboat Massacre is even namedropped in this movie.
It raises some questions that you probably aren’t asking yourself. Mouseboat Massacre is the title of a book being written by the father of our main character Chloe (Natasha Tosini). It’s about some legend of a human/mouse killer…who cares. That’s not what’s interesting. What’s interesting is that Winnie-the-Pooh himself, looking very much like he did in the original Blood and Honey makes an appearance in this very movie. He’s simply called “Bear” …as our lead antagonist is only referred to as “Mouse”. The backstory of Bear wouldn’t fit with the established canon of the Poohniverse…especially after it was rewritten in Blood and Honey 2…which retroactively made the original Blood and Honey into a bad horror movie set inside the Poohniverse itself.
Now…if we are to take this as anything more than a props department recycling a costume…and it would be crazy not to…it begs a very important question about the first of two unrelated Mickey Mouse horror movies being delivered by ITN Studios. Namely, has Mouse of Horrors arrived, out of the gate, relegated to the discarded pile of the Poohniverse? Is this movie, before anyone even saw it, already obsolete in the eyes of its own studio? Dumped off to Tubi island where people can do with it what they like…but having no bearing on the expanded Poohniverse as it moves forward? Its place destroyed at the same time as the decision was made to reboot the franchise with Blood and Honey 2?
I don’t know the answers to these questions. I don’t think there is a person alive who knows the answers to these questions. I’m just going to stick with someone thinking they might as well get more use out of the Winnie-the-Pooh costume…who cares if it makes any sense. That’s on me for looking for logic in public domain horror. I see that clearly now.
As for Mouse of Horrors itself, yeah…it’s bad. You knew that before you clicked this link. It’s worse than The Mouse Trap if you want a free spoiler on those rankings that we’ll probably never do. It’s not bad because it’s a public domain horror movie. I don’t think the people who watch these movies hold that against them anyway. They are simply looking for a decent low-budget slasher movie to kill 90 minutes or less. It isn’t the use of classic characters that hurt these movies…it’s a lack of ideas worthy of using them in the first place.
It should be noted that Mouse of Horrors avoids talking about the Mickey of it all entirely. The memorable ears on the mask are the only thing that connect it to the material. That…and the opening (and a later) scene involving a boat for some reason that probably involves wanting to tie the character to the Steamboat Willie concept in some way in case Disney lawyers sent them a letter. The bulk of Mouse of Horrors takes place at a local fair. Which…is a good idea on paper. The movie even attempts to use rides in its kill scenes…but just ends up with unmemorable kills that take place in potentially interesting places. Offscreen violence, a hallmark of the no-to-low budget slasher, rules the day here.
The plot, as much as there is one, involves a man named Dr. Rupert (Chris Lines) and his two creations…Mouse and Bear. His plan is to gather enough body parts to create brides for them. Classic. He even challenges them to bring him the most body parts to set the stage for a plot that borders on fun…and then never happens. Bear doesn’t get in on any of the killing in Mouse of Horrors. Fitting, given this is Mouse’s movie. Why then tease that a murder competition between off-brand Pooh and Mickey at home in the first place? Who knows.
We do get some Mouse vs. Bear at one point. If you want that…it’s free on Tubi. Enjoy.
While you’re there you’ll get to see the one real positive about Mouse of Horrors. The Mouse (Lewis Santer) is having a blast. He dances and laughs his way through the story…giving you something somewhat dynamic to look at. The whole thing eventually grinds to an eye-rolling halt…but that’s not Mouse’s fault. There’s a lot here for fans of “the killer slowly stalks victims as they run as fast as possible but ends up catching them/being ahead of them anyway” type slashers.
The park setting is…something. Overhead establishing shots show off a massive modern amusement part. The movie itself appears to be staged at a local sized fairground. Which…look…that’s still a cool location to get to shoot a slasher movie. I can’t tell you why it’s lit up when it’s closed at night. Seems like a big waste of money. Or, why it’s empty during the daytime when our large group of cannon fodder enter…but whatever. Actually, whatever is a good way to describe Mouse of Horrors. Maybe we’ll just stick with it and move onto whatever Mickey Mouse public domain movie crawls out of Hell next.
Scare Value
We aren’t even halfway through the announced Mickey Mouse/Steamboat Willie public domain movies and it’s already exhausting. Mouse of Horrors doesn’t have any ideas to cover for its low-budget slasher status. It doesn’t have what it takes to be a good one of those either. I’ll give it this…the actor playing the Mouse is having fun. At least someone did.
1.5/5
Mouse of Horrors Link
Streaming on Tubi
