For over a hundred years, animators have been captivating audiences with their cinematic creations. Now, it’s finally time for Hollywood studios to start relinquishing some of their firm grip on these classic intellectual properties. Specifically, despite Disney’s ongoing attempts to prevent this, the “Steamboat Willie” version of Mickey Mouse has joined several other significant works in the public domain. This opens the door for anyone motivated to creatively reinterpret these classics, even turning them into material for fans of low-budget horror films.

If you’re unfamiliar with it, “Steamboat Willie” is a Disney short released in 1928. Created in the distinct “rubber hose” art style by animator Ub Iwerks, the charming black-and-white animation is just under eight minutes long. It showcases an early version of Mickey Mouse navigating a paddle-wheel riverboat, engaging in various misadventures with Captain Pete and Minnie Mouse.

Several filmmakers have already responded to the opportunity by reimagining the beloved cartoon into something more menacing. Within just a few years, they have produced enough eerie Mickey-themed slashers to fill an entire day’s movie marathon. Even though Walt Disney might not be pleased with this development, don your Mouseketeer hats and gear up for a thrilling run-down of every Mickey Mouse horror movie to date.

Reimagining “Steamboat Willie” in a more urban setting, 2025’s “Screamboat” asks, “What if ‘Steamboat Willie,’ but make it a psychotic Pizza Rat fever dream?” Created by self-professed Disney fan Steven LaMorte, the oddball comedy horror film replaces the river setting with New York City’s Upper Bay, where a work crew on an old 1920s Staten Island ferry has inadvertently released a bloodthirsty Rodent of Unusual Size (David Howard Thornton). As the ferry makes its way across the fog-covered bay, the rat takes down victims in a predictably gruesome manner, utilizing everything from broomsticks to a fire hose, all while dressed in suspenders. Things only get worse for the passengers after Steamboat Willie takes the boat on a joyride and kills the captain, leaving them stranded for Willie to pick off one by one, all while stalking his human crush. The budget is low, and the Disney puns are in the basement, but the film is loaded with Disney deep cuts, and they even spent the time to give ROUS Willie something “Steamboat Willie” never did: a pretty decent backstory.

Less care was taken with 2024’s “The Mouse Trap,” which is more of an eye-rolling cash grab slasher than a fan-friendly horror film. Like “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” the film is set in an arcade, where manager Tim Collins (Simon Phillips) is somehow possessed by a spirit contained in his antique Steamboat Willie-style Mickey Mouse mask and just starts taking out his employees. In a similar vein, “Mouse of Horrors” deals with an urban legend about a Mickey Mouse-masked slasher menacing a seaside amusement park. Despite an admittedly creative attempt at creating a backstory, the IMDb reviews for this film are hilariously savage, so watch it at your own risk.

“Mouseboat Massacre” (2025) is a wild ride of a slasher film from the same folks who made the delightfully disturbing “Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey.” True to its name, “Mouseboat Massacre” is a downright grisly film about a mouse-masked killer who offs their victims in some of the most creative ways of any film in the “Steamboat Willie” parody multiverse. The (paper-thin) plot centers on a young woman named Mimi (Lauren Leppard) who is suffering drug withdrawal while staying in a secluded lake house with her family as she begins seeing an anthropomorphic murder mouse.

The title of the cliche-laden “Mickey’s Slayhouse” (2025) is a nod to the Disney show “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.” Set in an abandoned Disneyland-style amusement park, the supernatural slasher film takes a stab (or few) at the corporate greed side of Disney and the impact it has on kids. After a handful of teens decide to trespass, they encounter an abandoned park haunted by figures who are a whole lot scarier than the Haunted Mansion’s hitchhiking ghosts. Meanwhile, “Dark Domain: Mickey V. Winnie” is an upcoming IP mashup that envisions a cursed forest where malevolent beings manifest from the darkest minds. When a group of reform school friends return to their old stomping grounds, their inner demons give rise to a Dark Winnie and Dark Mickey, who are then pitted against each other in a bloody battle.

Likely the best in the bunch, “I Heart Willie” is a Mexican English-language film some fans believe is destined to become a cult classic. The story follows a group of YouTube paranormal investigators who end up face-to-face with an urban legend of the dark “mouse boy” who inspired Walt Disney and Ub Iwerk’s “Steamboat Willie” cartoon.