Here we go—three more horror flicks spawned from the world of children’s entertainment. One of them is a Mickey Mouse slasher, and the other two are both horror takes on Cinderella!
THE MOUSE TRAP (2024)
I seriously can’t wrap my head around what this movie was trying to accomplish. All they had to do was make a simple slasher with someone dressed as Mickey Mouse, but instead they tried to complicate matters…and succeeded completely in that aspect.
I feared I wasn’t in for the best time when the movie opened with a Star Wars style, scrolling intro that is supposed to be funny but quickly becomes an overkill message about how Disney did not condone this film at all.
We then begin at the end, with one of the characters in a prison cell being interrogated. In other words, we know she survives, but it’s not quite clear how she’s calmly sitting there talking when we see during her recounting of events that her Achilles’ heel was cut during a Mickey attack.
She’s one of a group of friends at an arcade that planned to party that night. With no explanation (ever), someone in a Mickey Mouse mask begins lurking around. This killer can also teleport (never explained). A majority of the kills are cutaway scenes until we finally see some onscreen deaths near the end. And the whole teleporting element doesn’t allow for the main characters to ever actually conquer the killer.
The very last kill and funny line that follows it are the best part of the movie and come right before it ends abruptly with no logical conclusion. It also ends with a good now wave song by dd Toby Leaman, which I’ll totally be playing on my Future Flashbacks show…the only good to come out of watching this movie.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you. No matter how big of a slasher fan you are, you are going to be pissed if you watch this film.
CINDERELLA’S REVENGE (2024)
This isn’t a scary film, but it’s definitely a darker take on the already dark Cinderella tale, with the satisfaction of also being a sweet revenge flick.
It opens strong, with the wicked stepmother having Cinderella’s father beheaded by two men in masks. She then immediately makes Cinderella her slave.
There’s some cruel treatment of Cinderella by her stepsisters, and then the prince’s big ball is announced. The fairy godmother appears to Cinderella and is played with devilish delight by Natasha Henstridge of Species fame.
This is the first sign of the campy undertone of the film, with the fairy godmother summoning famous designers to give Cinderella a makeover and then sending her off to the ball in a Tesla.
The tale continues to play out as we know it…until the stepmother insists one her daughters cut off her own toe in hopes of making the glass slipper fit. Yikes!
And then comes the revenge. The fairy godmother returns, gives Cinderella one of the masks used when her father was beheaded, and sends her off to slaughter those that have wronged her.
The only downside is that there aren’t all that many people to kill, but the deaths are nice and violent. Plus, there’s an unexpected sex scene with the prince at the end. Awesome.
CINDERELLA’S CURSE (2024)
I cover many of director Louisa Warren’s indie horror flicks, but this is perhaps her masterpiece. I thought Cinderella’s Revenge was vicious…until I watched this one right after.
The opening scene is pretty much irrelevant to the rest of the movie, but it sets the gory tone, and I guess you could say it presents the backstory of the fairy godmother, or in this case, god monster. She is one evil demon.
From there, the film goes right into a BJ scene. Now that is my kind of retelling of Cinderella.
We then meet Cinderella and her absolutely sadistic stepmother and stepsisters. They resort to whips, hooks, and mutilation. It’s awesome.
The prince comes and ogles and objectifies the women before inviting them to his ball. The fairy god monster visits Cinderella, and she is then sent off to the ball as well.
And holy shit does it get cruel. Turns out there’s an elaborate plan to humiliate and torture Cinderella. However, that doesn’t last long, for Cinderella has been granted some powers and turns this ball into Carrie’s night at the prom.
She even gets help from Hellraiser looking leather demons, as well as the heel of her glass slipper as she hunts down and shreds everyone. This is how you make a classic into an absolutely killer flick. Delicious blasphemy.
