There's a legend going round about a mouse boy - a creature half man, half mouse - called Willie who lived a hundred years ago until dying under mysterious circumstances that gave Walt Disney the inspiration for Mickey Mouse, which debuted in 1928's Steamboad Willie. This is of course widely considered as mere urban legend - and thus exactly the thing YouTubers Daniel (Sergio Rogalto) and Nico (Micho Camacho) want to examine for their channel that deals in all things weird. And going to the location the legend is to have originated from, they have taken along Nora (Maya Luna) and Jess (Daniel Porras), two girls they have the hots for. Now of course, once at the location where Willie is to have disappeared they have to find out he's very much alive (and played by David Vaughn). And he's out for vengeance - vengeance against all humankind it seems. This is bad enough for our heroes, but what's worse is that one of their ranks has their own agenda and is secretly playing team Willie ...

A little bit of background for this movie: By 2024, the copyright on Mickey Mouse has inspired - well, the copyright for the rendition of Mickey Mouse in its first public appearance in Steamboad Willie that is, later versions of the character are still owned by Disney. What that means in oversimplified layman's terms is basically this: Anybody and everybody can now use Mickey Mouse for their film and other art projects as long as tthey stick to the Steamboad Willie-version of the character or a evolution thereof distinctly different from Disney's later renditions. And in today's day and age when many public domain characters from our youth are turned into horror monsters, a Mickey Mouse-themed slasher seemed inevitable - and there's actually another one after I Heart Willie, Screamboat, already gearing up for its premiere.

This all of course says little about the actual quality of I Heart Willie, and frankly just turning some childhood icons into horror characters is more often than not a recipe for disaster - only this time it isn't, and in many a way that's due to the fact that the film's not just a slasher with a random character tagged on but a film that properly weaves its premise into the story and creates a backstory from it - a backstory that ultimately leads to a plottwist that's outside the genre's formula and is more than likely to catch one by surprise. Also, the film's story's told with a lot of verve and wit to keep one entertained throughout, while there's plenty of blood and guts to keep the gorehounds in the audience entertained. Now of course, Mickey Mouse-purists will be enraged about this one - while horror fans will find plenty to enjoy, probably more than they expect to.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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