By Joseph Hammann, Staff Writer
To start off this piece, I just have to say “I never thought I would ever see the day.” Specifically, I am referring to how I would have never thought I would be living in a world where it is becoming a common occurrence to see public domain properties get turned into horror movies. If this past January has taught me anything, people really do wait for the perfect moment to announce these horror adaptations.
With films in the United States, motion pictures are copyrighted for approximately 96 years. In today’s day and age, that would mean on New Year’s 2025, films released in 1929 would enter the public domain, unless otherwise expressed, and films released in 1928 entered the public domain at the start of this year.
Upon the release of 1928 properties into the public domain this year, people were anticipating the release of Steamboat Willie, the very first cartoon to feature Mickey and Minnie Mouse. I remember the days leading up to this release, people hyping it up — it was something big. Once the new year started, I learned that when it comes to waiting for properties to get turned into horror, people don’t waste time. Literally, minutes after the clock struck midnight, Nightmare Forge Games released the trailer for their new game Infestation: Origins, a horror game starring who else but Steamboat Willie. Over the next few hours, I heard of more announcements about Steamboat Willie horror properties like The Return of Steamboat Willie, Mickey’s Mouse Trap, James LaMorte’s Steamboat Willie and The Vanishing of S.S. Willie, the last of which I decided to give a watch. Although I wasn’t personally scared by it, I could see how others would’ve found it unnerving.
However, from what I both found and already knew, this whole “public domain properties getting turned to horror movies” phenomenon is not something new, but it is something more common in today’s day and age.
Before traversing down that rabbit hole, I would like to talk about the one that has now caused an entire cinematic universe of public domain properties turned horror movies to resurface, Jagged Edge Productions’ Winnie The Pooh: Blood and Honey. Little would I know that it would spawn one sequel with a third already in development. I remember when I first found out about it in May 2022, I was flabbergasted and just thought “WHAT!?” I also remember telling this to my mother and her response was her sighing and saying, “Is there just nothing sacred in this world anymore?”
Before I knew it, it was released and I forgot about it for 10 months until I saw a video with a clip of the movie in it. A year later, they released the sequel and the announcement of the so called “Twisted Childhood Universe” which, with the addition of Winnie The Pooh: Blood and Honey, includes movies such as Bambi: The Reckoning, Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare, Pinocchio: Unstrung, Awakening Sleeping Beauty, and the crossover movie Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble. Just this whole list makes my head move around in circles trying to comprehend. I will say it again. “I never thought I would ever see the day.” Now here we are, in a world where there is a company who makes low budget horror movies based on properties in the public domain.
The thing is, Jagged Edge Productions was far from the first company to do something like this nor are they the only company following up on this bandwagon. In addition to what Jagged Edge Productions is doing and all of the Steamboat Willie projects, there have also been horror movies released or scheduled to be released based on stories such as “The Grinch,” “Hansel & Gretel,” “Cinderella,” “Goldilocks & The Three Bears” and many more. So, it is pretty clear to me that this trend will not be going away anytime soon.
Will I ever watch any of these public domain properties turned to horror movies? Probably not. I think the idea of doing this is honestly stupid and I felt it didn’t need to happen except for extra shock value. Except, I must admit, the “stupid” isn’t necessarily bad, all things considered. These types of silly movie ideas baffle me, but I honestly can’t help but feel amused about the concept. Even though I may think it is nonsensical, it is evident that these types of movies do have an audience and if they enjoy this kind of content, more power to them, and these companies making these movies are certainly going to deliver.
Cinema is evolving and after a bit of time, filmmakers need to find new ways to tip the scales in making something new. As one researcher said it best: “The public domain is like a box of chocolates, and you never know what you’re gonna get.” This is the world we are living in now, and we either have to embrace this or do what we can to ignore it.