Italian
This year saw one of the most zealously-guarded corporate empires of intellectual property spring a leak, as all the Magic Kingdom’s horses and men couldn’t keep Mickey Mouse from entering the public domain. Strictly speaking, what was no longer protected were the first three shorts in which that fabled rodent appeared, all made in 1928 — so, under current U.S. laws, their copyrights have now expired. Two years prior, the same thing happened to author A.A. Milne’s whimsical anthropomorphic creations. That liberation resulted in the quickie horror cash-in “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey,” a near-unwatchable enterprise that cheered no one outside its makers’ accountants. Ergo, 2024 has brought us “The Mouse Trap,” which could even worse than “B&H,” which set a bar so low it was subterranean.
This Canadian production from director Jamie Bailey and writer-actor Simon Phillips no doubt hoped to spin its bad-taste concept toward similar viral-phenomenon status. Fueled by advance online notoriety, “Blood and Honey” managed a pretty stunning return on its minuscule budget. Actually sitting through it may have dampened viewers’ enthusiasm for more. Despite considerable anticipatory publicity, “Mouse Trap” did not open in North American theaters as originally announced earlier this year, instead sneaking onto home formats months later. It can currently be viewed on Tubi, albeit without the extra twenty minutes promised by a coming “Director’s Cut” that it’s hard to imagine anyone is thirsting for.
Popular on Variety “Mouse Trap” begins with a jokey legal disclaimer unscrolling like the opening of “Star Wars,” with similarly grandiose backing music. This goes on for a lengthy 90 seconds — a fair warning that we’re in for a sluggish ride whose few ideas will be stretched thin. At a suburban gaming emporium, staff are closing up for the night. Manager Tim (Phillips) tells young employees Alex (Sophie McIntosh) and Jayna (Madeline Kelman) that they need to stay on another few hours, however, as there’s a last-minute booking for a private party. This is received with loud groans only partially alleviated by the promise of double-time pay.
Shortly thereafter middle-aged Tim takes a break in the facility’s small screening room, popping on an old 8mm reel of “Steamboat Willie.” Released in late 1928, this synchronized-sound short was Disney’s big breakout. (Still, it wasn’t quite his signature character’s first stand — “Plane Crazy” and “The Gallopin’ Gaucho” were completed earlier that year as silents, but went unreleased until reworked with sound after “Willie’s” huge success.) As it unspools, a Mickey Mouse mask in a memorabilia cabinet somehow puts Tim in a trance, demanding he put it on and… y’know, kill, kill, kill. Why? Because this is a horror movie, stupid.
Already ditched by Jayna (who’s got a hot date), Alex is doing some janitorial duties when she spies this ominous figure near an entrance. Fleeing, she runs smack into eight of her friends — it turns out they’re the after-hours guests, intending to throw her a surprise birthday party. For some time she neglects to even mention the presence she’d just escaped in a panic, until a pair traipse off in search of make-out space. They go missing and, soon, the others realize all the exits have been barred, their phones stolen. Initially accusing one another of pulling pranks, they finally realize they are up against a murderous entity that can also vanish and reappear at will. All this is related as a flashback by “miracle survivor” Rebecca (Mackenzie Mills), who’s being questioned later the same night by police detectives (Damir Kovic, Nick Biskupek).
Except at the end we realize she isn’t the sole escapee, though what if anything happened to several more survivors goes unexplained. At times, Phillips’ dialogue seems to be ridiculing his screenplay’s own improbability and sloppy logic gaps, as well as the genre itself. But there’s little indication of such satirical self-awareness in the direction or performances. And for an ostensible slasher exercise, “The Mouse Trap” is counterproductively restrained. A full hour passes before there’s any graphic onscreen violence, and there’s little imagination or zest expended on the deaths. So what’s the point?
Shot in an expansive Ottawa arcade, the film is able to utilize the color, lights and gizmos of its attractions to acceptably atmospheric effect. Bailey’s widescreen cinematography is decent, his editing likewise. Yet there’s scant suspenseful urgency throughout, in individual set pieces or overall, and one can’t help but sniff either haste or outright contempt in some inexplicable creative decisions. (For starters, Rebecca’s cop interrogators don’t call her out on the fact that she remembers incidents and verbal exchanges she wasn’t actually present for.) The performers are okay, with Callum Sywyk and Ben Harris getting the most screentime, apart from McIntosh as Alex’s respectively nerdy and bullying rival suitors. But they aren’t given a lot to work with.
The most one can say in “Mouse Trap’s” favor is that its rote professionalism at least makes for less painful a slog than “Blood and Honey.” The big disappointment with films of this ilk is that they lure you in with the promise of nasty fun at the expense of some well-loved property, then do almost nothing to exploit that angle. Of course, a certain caution is wise — god knows the Walt Disney Corporation would be happy to sue over any infringement on its remaining rights. (Even the words “Mickey Mouse” go conspicuously unspoken here.) Still, having somebody in a character mask run around with a big knife is damn lazy as far as pop-culture subversions go. There’s no attempt to mimic the famous squeaky voice, to parody or even reference anything else in the Mouse House universe. The sum impact is like a joke with a promising-enough setup but no punchline.
Nonetheless, a sequel (“Welcome to the Mickeyverse”) is purportedly in the works. Meanwhile, imminent in the pipeline are “Bambi: The Reckoning” and “Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare,” among other genre beneficiaries of newly expired copyrights. This year’s “Blood and Honey 2” was said to be a step up from its predecessor, and “Mouse Trap’s” creators have already released a newer feature, the supernatural submarine tale “What Lurks Beneath” — which isn’t exactly good, but certainly better. Some day a public domain horror spinoff may come along that’s witty and inventive — good for more than just an excuse for drinking games. For now, though, it looks like their main purpose lies in providing commercial training wheels for filmmakers seeking maximum attention for minimum expense and effort. It’s a deal that, so far, works well for everyone but the audience.
