It seems “public domain horror movies” are now a proper thing: a cinematic subgenre of gory, uber-schlocky fearmongering that revolves around a well-known intellectual property, usually from the realm of children’s entertainment, whose copyright has expired. That means the makers are free to turn a beloved character into a murderous man-beast psychopath, with the Winnie-the-Pooh derived Blood and Honey franchise a prime example.
Meanwhile, the moment black-and-white cartoon Steamboat Willie, the 1928 debut of Mickey Mouse, entered the public domain, almost half a dozen Mickey-themed slasher pics were born, like spores released from a fruiting body. In a very low-bar environment, I Heart Willie is perhaps a tick better than previous public domain horrors, or maybe we have reached the film critic’s equivalent of Stockholm syndrome, with our defences worn down by shoddy production values, originality deficits and lame performances.
At least I Heart Willie offers a somewhat unusual backdrop: it is set in Michoacán, a western state of Mexico, where four teenagers, who mostly speak English even though three of them are locals, set out looking for trouble, as kids are wont to do in these films. They’ve heard of a house in the area haunted by a dead German mouse-boy named Willie; turns out rumours of his death are somewhat exaggerated as he’s still there and quite buff (and is played by the film’s screenwriter David Vaughn), although half of his skin is covered in mutilated latex and he wears a homemade mouse mask most of the time.
Willie spends his time mutilating randoms who wander on to his property while blasting aptly public domain recordings such as Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries. Inevitably, nearly every member of the crew gets picked off, but there’s a twist, with one of the party not exactly who they seem to be. Final girl Maya Luna stars as Nora, a seemingly prim-in-pink type who displays an impressive acting range. Her charisma and commitment to this nonsense elevates the material just enough to make the marketing push behind this seem justified. That said, let’s not let the film’s tedious sadism and crappy dialogue off the hook.
• I Heart Willie is on digital platforms from 23 June.
