Terrifier star David Howard Thornton to lead twisted Mickey Mouse movie Screamboat

Art the Clown is coming to ruin your Disney memories... well, sort of.

According to a new exclusive from Variety, Terrifier star David Howard Thornton, who plays the larger-than-life yet absolutely terrifying killer clown, will next star in Screamboat, a horror comedy in which Disney's earliest iteration of Mickey Mouse becomes the stuff of nightmares.

On January 1, 2024, the classic 1928 animated short film Steamboat Willie entered the public domain. Not long after that, multiple projects were announced featuring the 1928 version of Mickey becoming the latest childhood character to morph into a horror villain.

Screamboat follows "a late-night ferry ride that turns deadly when a mischievous mouse begins a rampage, targeting unsuspecting passengers."

Steven LaMorte, who produced Terrifier 2, will direct the film. LaMorte previously dabbled in this kind of parody material with The Mean One, which also starred Thornton. The Mean One is a Christmas horror film loosely based on the iconic Dr. Seuss story, How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

In his statement, LaMorte said, “I’m thrilled to be working on Screamboat with such a killer cast from horror legends to comedy icons. David Howard Thornton is bringing our mischievous and murderous take on Steamboat Willie to life like never before. I can’t wait for audiences to laugh and scream with us onboard Screamboat!"

In addition to Thornton, Screamboat will star Amy Schumacher (The Mean One), Jesse Posey (Teen Wolf), Allison Pittel (Stream), Jesse Kove (Cobra Kai), Rumi C. Jean-Louis (Hightown), and genre veterans Jarlath Conroy (Day of the Dead) and Charles Edwin Powell (The Exorcist III).

Screamboat is the latest in a new trend of using public domain characters in twisted horror stories. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey helped start the trend and has already released a sequel, with another movie and a shared universe in the works.

The shared verse is called The Twisted Childhood Universe and will include movies about Bambi, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan, and more childhood favorites.

Thornton wil return as Art the Clown in Terrifier 3, premiering this October.

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