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This week brings an eclectic mix of new horror movies, including Neon’s latest in theaters, the return of Terrifier 2‘s Lauren Lavera, and even an unofficial Mickey Mouse slasher movie.

Here’s all the new horror releasing August 5 – August 11, 2024!

For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.

With the short film Steamboat Willie (1928) in the public domain, horror filmmakers are now free to play around with that early incarnation of Mickey Mouse, and that’s exactly what director Jamie Bailey is doing in the new indie slasher movie The Mouse Trap.

Gravitas Ventures released The Mouse Trap on VOD this past Tuesday.

In the horror movie, “It’s Alex’s 21st birthday, but she’s stuck at the amusement arcade on a late shift so her friends decide to surprise her, but a masked killer dressed as Mickey Mouse decides to play a game...

An arcade after hours holds unexpected scares in The Mouse Trap. Friends celebrate a birthday at FunHaven, unaware of the terror that lurks among the skate-ball lanes and pinball machines. When the manager locks them inside, a masked menace starts picking them off. But this is no ordinary killer—it’s Mickey Mouse himself, harnessing supernatural powers from a cursed cartoon.

The concept taps nostalgia with its 90s arcade throwback while putting a horror twist on the debut of public domain Mickey. But delivering the goods proves tricky. Potential for creepy fun exists in the eerie setting, yet the execution is part clunky, part cheeky. The acting ranges from solid anchors to weak links. Efforts to balance horror and humor often clash more than complement.

For all its flaws, The Mouse Trap shows flickers of what could be. When it commits to chills over cringe, an unsettling atmosphere takes hold.

On January 1st, the earliest versions of Mickey Mouse – seen in the animated shorts Plane Crazy, The Gallopin’ Gaucho, and most famously Steamboat Willie – became public domain… which, of course, means we’re now going to get multiple horror movies that feature characters inspired by Mickey Mouse. Within the first three days of the year, we saw the short film The Vanishing of S.S. Willie, a trailer for the slasher movie Mickey’s Mouse Trap, and an announcement that Terrifier 2 producers Steven Della Salla and Michael Leavy and director Steven Lamorte, who previously made the Grinch-inspired horror movie The Mean One, were teaming up for a Steamboat Willie-inspired horror flick that we now know is titled Screamboat. Mickey’s Mouse Trap has since undergone a title change of its own – it’s now simply known as The Mouse Trap, and it’s set to receive a VOD release from Gravitas Ventures on August 6th,...

Well, we all knew this was coming: Disney has gone dark thanks to “Steamboat Willie” now being in the public domain.

The earliest version of the conglomerate’s iconic Mickey Mouse character is now up for grabs — and the team behind the upcoming horror film “The Mouse Trap” wasted no time reimagining Mickey as a murderer.

Jamie Bailey directs the twisted take on the mouse with Simon Phillips playing the serial killer version of Mickey. The teaser trailer was released January 1 to announce the project just as the character entered the public domain and legally could be incorporated in Disney-less films.

The official synopsis reads: “It’s Alex’s 21st Birthday, but she’s stuck at the amusement arcade on a late shift so her friends decide to surprise her, but a masked killer dressed as Mickey Mouse decides to play a game of his own with them which she must survive.

With the short film Steamboat Willie (1928) in the public domain, horror filmmakers are now free to play around with that early incarnation of Mickey Mouse, and that’s exactly what director Jamie Bailey is doing in the upcoming indie slasher movie The Mouse Trap.

Bloody Disgusting has learned that Gravitas Ventures will release The Mouse Trap on VOD outlets beginning August 6, 2024, followed by the film’s Blu-ray release on August 13.

Exclusively watch the official trailer for The Mouse Trap below!

In the upcoming horror movie…

It’s Alex’s 21st birthday, but she’s stuck at the amusement arcade on a late shift so her friends decide to surprise her, but a masked killer dressed as Mickey Mouse decides to play a game of his own with them which she must survive.

Jamie Bailey tells Bloody Disgusting, “The Mouse Trap film is famously the first horror film to use the...

It has only been a day since Disney’s 1928 short film ‘Steamboat Willie’ hit the public domain and a teaser trailer has dropped for the horror ‘Mickey’s Mouse Trap’ featuring Mickey as a serial killer.

The story revolves around a character named Alex who gets stuck working a late shift at an amusement arcade on her 21st birthday. Her friends plan to surprise her, but simultaneously, a killer shows up wearing a Steamboat Willie mask resembling Mickey Mouse. The killer decides to play a game with Alex and her friends, which they must survive to stay alive.

Directed by Jamie Bailey, Sophie McIntosh, Callum Sywyk, Allegra Nocita, Ben Harris, Damir Kovic, Mackenzie Mills, Nick Biskupek and Simon Phillips star.

Also in trailers – “Welcome to the team…” Final trailer lands for Kevin Hart’s ‘Lift’

No release date has been set as yet.

The post Teaser trailer drops for horror...

”We just wanted to have fun with it all,” says director of ’Mickey’s Mouse Trap’.

Steamboat Willie, the 1928 short film which was the first to feature Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, entered the public domain on January 1 and independent filmmakers are preparing genre versions of the beloved children’s characters.

These iterations of the world’s most celebrated cartoon mice are now available to anyone to interpret without fear of legal reprisal.

However creators will need to tread carefully. Disney’s army of lawyers will be monitoring the situation to ensure no third party work depicts post-1928 interpretations of Mickey and Minnie,...

”We just wanted to have fun with it all,” says director of ’Mickey’s Mouse Trap’.

Steamboat Willie, the 1928 short film which was the first to feature Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, entered the public domain on January 1 and independent filmmakers are preparing genre versions of the beloved children’s characters.

These iterations of the world’s most celebrated cartoon mice are now available to anyone to interpret without fear of legal reprisal – although Disney’s army of lawyers will be watching closely to ensure no new work depicts post-1928 interpretations of Mickey and Minnie.

On Monday filmmaker Jamie Bailey...

The first of January marks the time when some characters and stories enter the public domain, which means that other creators can use them. We've already seen that happen with the likes of :a[Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood And Honey]{href='https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/winnie-the-pooh-blood-and-honey/' }, which despite being fairly dreadful, made enough to spawn a sequel. This year, it's the turn of Mickey Mouse –– or at least, the version of the character and some others as seen in 1928 short 'toon Steamboat Willie. At least two horror movies are in the works, with one, Mickey's Mouse Trap already at the teaser stage, and you can find the footage below…

With Jamie Bailey directing, the film stars Sophie McIntosh, Callum Sywyk, Allegra Nocita, Ben Harris, Damir Kovic, Mackenzie Mills, Nick Biskupek and Simon Phillips. A basic synopsis you wondered about? Here you go… "It’s Alex’s 21st birthday, but...

"The Mouse is out." Surprise, surprise, they've already turned Mickey Mouse into a horror icon. Mickey's Mouse Trap is the first ever Mickey Mouse horror movie from filmmaker Jamie Bailey. If you didn't hear already, starting in 2024 the original Mickey Mouse first introduced in Disney's classic animated Steamboat Willie short from 1928 is now in the "public domain" and no longer copyrighted. Which means anyone can do whatever they want with it and of course they first thing someone does is turn it into horror (they always do this - same with Winnie the Pooh). "We just wanted to have fun with it all. I mean it's Steamboat Willie's Mickey Mouse murdering people. It's ridiculous. We ran with it and had fun doing it." Okay. The film stars Sophie McIntosh, Callum Sywyk, Allegra Nocita, Ben Harris, Damir Kovic, Mackenzie Mills, Nick Biskupek, and Simon Phillips. Yep this looks as dumb and...

The earliest version of Mickey Mouse from 1928’s Steamboat Willie just entered public domain, allowing filmmakers free rein to give the character a new spin. One of the first projects to take advantage is a slasher flick titled Mickey’s Mouse Trap, in which the killer dons a Mickey Mouse mask while stalking victims in an amusement park.

As seen in the newly released trailer, Mickey’s Mouse Trap falls into similar territory as the Scream franchise, offering meta commentary about the horror genre. After one character says he’ll be right back, another comments, “Well, he’s dead. Like, if he was in a horror movie, you’d never say, ‘I’ll be right back,’ because then you don’t.” Watch it below.

The official synopsis reads: “It’s Alex’s 21st birthday, but she’s stuck at the amusement arcade on a late shift so her friends decide to surprise her,...

Winnie the Pooh got his own (unofficial) horror movie last year with Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, and this year it’s Mickey Mouse’s turn to (unofficially) do a little slicing and dicing.

The Mickey Mouse character entered the public domain just yesterday and already the first teaser trailer has been unleashed for Mickey’s Mouse Trap, an upcoming low-budget horror movie that was obviously shot before the character fell into the public domain but is only being announced and previewed now that Disney can’t actually come after the filmmaking team.

How is Mickey Mouse in the public domain, you ask? Well, it’s actually the short film Steamboat Willie (1928) that entered the public domain this year, bringing Mickey along with it. A Killer Mickey video game was also announced already, which is titled Infestation 88.

In Mickey’s Mouse Trap, on the other hand…

It’s Alex’s 21st birthday,...

Following in the footsteps of Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey, Mickey’s Mouse Trap is taking full advantage of a famous character being in the public domain now.

Well, it was bound to happen. With Mickey Mouse entering the public domain on 1 January, someone was going to make the iconic mouse the star of a horror film.

That someone is Jamie Bailey. Much like last year’s Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey, Mickey’s Mouse Trap imagines the lovable mouse as a cold-blooded killer.

Take a look at the very first trailer for Mickey’s Mouse Trap.

The trailer was posted online at one minute past midnight, as soon as the character was fair game. Now, to be clear, it’s only the black-and-white, Steamboat Willie version of Mickey Mouse that is in the public domain and free to use. Cleverly, the trailer for Mickey’s Mouse Trap...

Well, that didn’t take long.

On the first day that Disney’s 1928 short Steamboat Willie entered the public domain, a trailer has dropped for a horror comedy film featuring none other than Mickey Mouse as the killer.

The synopsis for the film, called Mickey’s Mouse Trap, reads: “It’s Alex’s 21st birthday, but she’s stuck at the amusement arcade on a late shift so her friends decide to surprise her, but a masked killer dressed as Mickey Mouse decides to play a game of his own with them which she must survive.”

The trailer features, yep, a person in a Mickey Mouse costume, wearing what resembles a hockey jersey without the letters, attacking a victim and stalking others inside a Chuck E. Cheese-type place (reminiscent of last year’s horror hit Five Nights at Freddy’s). There also is Scream-like self-awareness about the horror genre, including one...