Recently a slightly unusual sub-genre has begun to emerge within the Horror genre. That is Horror films in which the villain/killer is a well known character who had previously been the
intellectual property of another organization and is now copyright free. Examples of this include that earlier this year the second instalment in the Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey universe was released, and a Horror film involving Bambi is on its way, but for now audiences can take a look at a killer Mickey Mouse in The Mouse Trap.
Coming to VOD platforms on August 6, 2024 and to Blu-ray on August 15th through Gravitas Ventures, this new film is directed by Jamie Bailey (This Was America 2020, Deinfluencer 2022), and comes with plenty of intrigue from the Horror community. Originally titled Mickey’s Mouse Trap, it finds arcade worker Alex (Sophie McIntosh: Bury the Past 2021, The Sacrifice Game 2023) stuck working the late shift on her twenty-first birthday. Not wanting Alex to spend her birthday alone, a group of her friends have actually rented out the entirety of the Fun Arcade and plan to surprise her with an after hours party.
Meanwhile, Detective Marsh (Nick Biskupek: Erin’s Guide to Kissing Girls 2022, Butchers Book Two: Raghorn 2024) and Detective Cole (Damir Kovic) are questioning a young woman named Rebecca (Mackenzie Mills) about a series of murders she witnessed in which she was the only survivor. As this is all happening, Alex’s boss settles down in his office to have a drink and watch a film. However something is about to go wrong and unbeknownst to the group in the arcade – they are all in grave danger.
Providing further insight, The Mouse Trap came to fruition due to Disney’s Steamboat Willie entering the public domain and indeed that is the film that Alex’s boss settles down to watch before donning a Mickey Mouse mask and going on a killing spree. At the same time, the film is very self-aware about this well known and previously copyrighted character (there is even a Star Wars style text crawl that opens the film and jokes about it), ironically it is this attachment that feels like the film’s biggest downfall.
Whilst the killer wears a Mickey Mouse mask and there are some small nods to Steamboat Willie itself, for example the famous whistled music, there is little about this film that feels like it has anything to do with Steamboat Willie. Rather, The Mouse Trap feels like any other number of similar low budget slashers and the insistence to try and make it about Mickey is distracting rather than engaging.
Beyond this, the film is shot well enough, but there are some issues with the editing and sound design which unfortunately can be slightly distracting for the audience. The Mouse Trap is obviously a film that has been made with a certain amount of passion. However, for this particular purpose of being a Steamboat Willie horror… unfortunately it misses on a few levels. That is why Cryptic Rock gives The Mouse Trap 2 out of 5 stars.
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