Screamboat‘s Director Breaks Down the Ins and Outs of Public Domain Horror

Winnie the Pooh. Popeye. Steamboat Willie. These days, it seems the instant a recognizable character becomes public domain, someone immediately turns them into a horror movie. Why is that, and what is it like behind the scenes? To get those answers, io9 spoke with Steven LaMorte. He’s the co-writer and director of Screamboat, a Steamboat Willie slasher film that’s in theaters April 2. As we covered in the first half of our interview, it’s a film that might be a love letter to Disney, but that doesn’t come without some guardrails. In order to avoid being sued, films like Screamboat have to adhere to some simple but important guidelines, which makes for a very interesting exercise in storytelling. As this is LaMorte’s second public domain horror film—he did a Grinch-themed film called The Mean One in 2022—we spoke to him about all that and more. You can see the line between legal and “Disney lawyers being very mad” in full effect when you watch Screamboat April 2. Check out the intervi ... Read full article.