2023’s ‘Winnie the Pooh : Blood and Honey’ saw the beloved bear turn homicidal maniac slashing everything in sight like a newly installed Chancellor ‘s first budget. But the 1st January 2024 saw the animated behemoth that is Mickey Mouse fall out of copyright one hundred years after his first appearance in the short debut cartoon ‘Steamboat Willy’ and finds the mouse far less benevolent and now stalking and slaughtering a bunch of teens in an amusement arcade in new release, ‘The Mouse Trap’.
The mouse’s rampage is told in flashback by goth girl Rebecca (Mackenzie Mills) now locked in a police cell and being interviewed by two cops adhering to the good cop – bad cop template. That she’s talking about it at all immediately removes the usual suspense of guessing who will make it to the end when it might be expected to be Alex (Sophie McIntosh) who works at the arcade and is being thrown a surprise party by her friends who, as per the rules of the murderous monster movies, are a selection of sports jocks, girl next door, hot slut, nice boy etc. So as the party begins so does the slaughter as the knife wielding figure in a rubber Mickey Mouse mask, that looks like it’s been left too near to an open fire, begins.
Initially The Mouse Trap starts off with a screen scroll a la the opening sequence of Star Wars that in a mock comic tone sets out that this film has definitely not been endorsed by Disney in any way whatsoever …or by George Lucas Star Wars either for that matter. From this opening moment it would seem to be setting out its stall that what we can expect will be a self-deprecating …ahem, mickey take of a horror film. But The Mouse Trap isn’t that at all. Instead there are some amusing lines but the horror doesn’t really kick in until the last act and much of it is on the mild side for horror afficcionado. Any mystery as to who the mouse is revealed early on and how the person assumes the mantle of the mouse seems to be via osmosis after watching Steamboat Willy an idea that has served only to get our editor to test the theory getting his wife to watch ‘Showgirls’ on a loop. (‘You’re fired!’ – Ed).
Light on gore The Mouse Trap is hokey stuff but an end credit scene suggests a sequel which, if the case, would benefit from taking a leaf out the 2024 Winnie the Pooh Blood and Honey sequel which upped the ante in terms of script, prosthetic make up and kills to good effect.
related feature : Amber Doig -Thorne takes us behind the scenes of ‘Winnie The Pooh ; Blood and Honey’
related feature : ‘Winnie the Pooh : Blood and Honey 2’ – REVIEW
We chat to director Jamie bailey & writer/actor Simon Phillips about the film……
Here’s The Mouse Trap trailer…….
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