Oh, great. One more thing for New Yorkers to worry about — being murdered by Mickey Mouse.
In the demented new horror movie “Screamboat,” now in theaters, David Howard Thornton (Art the Clown from “Terrifier”) plays Willie, a killer rodent who brutalizes passengers at night aboard the NYC’s very own Staten Island ferry.
And not just any old ferry. The decommissioned orange boat seen in the film has made headlines since being bought by Pete Davidson and Colin Jost for $280,000.
The movie’s freaky, big-eared scamp aboard the doomed vessel is, of course, based on 1928’s “Steamboat Willie,” Disney’s first Mickey cartoon.
But there are no punishing lawsuits on the way from the famed studio. The animated short entered the public domain last year, which means creatives are now free to mess with it as they please. See: “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey.”
How, though, did cute little Mickey wind up here?
“I’m from Staten Island, and I’ve always wanted to make a horror movie on the Staten Island ferry — you know a slasher or murder mystery,” director Steven LaMorte told The Post, adding that every day passengers are basically trapped during their watery commute.
“Once the ferry takes off, it’s 22 minutes of terror.”
LaMorte previously directed “The Mean One,” a scary parody of Dr. Seuss’ “How The Grinch Stole Christmas.” He wanted to stay in that horror-comedy realm, and discovered that “Steamboat Willie” would soon be hitting the public domain.
His interest was piqued.
“I did little research and [found out] the Staten Island ferry was once powered by steam,” the director said.
“So that’s our steamboat, there’s our monster and what better backdrop to have for our killer, murderous, mischievous mouse movie than the Staten Island ferry with the New York City skyline in the background?”
To prep, LaMorte and his wife Amy Schumacher, who also stars in the movie and acts as producer, rode the normal ferry constantly — 15 to 20 times on one day alone — to explore all the possibilities for cartoon carnage.
“We were looking at all the little hatches. Where could a mouse come from? Or what’s a great place for a potential scene to happen?,” he said.
“But once we got there and we were able to see the areas the public doesn’t get to see, that’s when things got really interesting. Because we’re walking around this surprisingly massive engine room, or being in the captain’s deck where we’re doing some of those iconic ‘Steamboat Willie’ moments.”
They couldn’t film on a functioning ferry, though. That’s where Jost and Davidson’s purchase comes in.
Securing their floating set was, ahem, a secretive process.
“I can’t comment on the ownership of the ferry,” the director said.
“We definitely used a decommissioned New York City ferry. And it is up to the world and the internet to speculate as to where we got it from and who owns it. But if you Google it, I think it will become more clear.” (Multiple outlets reported that it belongs to the “SNL” stars.)
Once on the boat, LaMorte was devoted to authenticity, knowing that locals could sense if something was off.
“As New Yorker, you just know. You can just tell,” he said. “You can smell when it’s Canada; you can just feel it when it is not right.”
So the details of the ferry were meticulously tended to, right down to the accents you hear from Willie’s victims, to shooting in the actual terminal with cooperation from the city and stocking the genuine cheap beer being served at the Liberty Cafe.
“The prices on the menu would shock you,” LaMorte said. “Just how recently you could get a beer so inexpensively at the Liberty snack stand.”
What would Walt Disney make of all of this bloody mischief involving his cherished creation?
“I think he would appreciate the way that we went about it and the fact that we said we’re not gonna let anything stand in our way and we’re gonna bring this possible dream to life,” LaMorte said.
“I hope somewhere his frozen head approves of what we’re up to.”
