Minnie’s Midnight Massacre Trailer Brings Disney’s Darling Into Bloody New Territory
It was only a matter of time before someone gave Minnie Mouse a knife and a grudge. After all, since the earliest version of Mickey Mouse entered the public domain on January 1st, 2024, horror filmmakers have been having a field day turning beloved cartoon characters into maniacs. The moment Steamboat Willie fell into the public domain, a wave of mouse-themed nightmares began to flood in: Mickey’s Mouse Trap, The Vanishing of S.S. Willie, and the Terrifier team’s Screamboat, because if it has a smiling face and childhood nostalgia attached, someone somewhere is probably turning it into a slasher.
Now it is Minnie’s turn. Writer and director Brett Bentman has dropped the trailer for Minnie’s Midnight Massacre, and let’s just say this version of Minnie is not here to hand out hugs. As reported by JoBlo, the film reimagines Minnie as a vengeful victim who finally snaps, turning the tables on the teenage bullies who tormented her. Coming from ITN Distribution, the film stars Indira Starr, Cliff Dean, Erin Marie Garrett, Tiffany McDonald, Hannah Hueston, Derrick Redford, Kace Winfield, Kinley Moody, Mckenna Smith, Kennan Ainsworth, and Joplyn McDonald. Redford and Tiffany McDonald also serve as executive producers, ensuring Minnie’s makeover is as mean-spirited as it is mischievous.
Bentman told JoBlo, “The response has been great and it seems that people and fans want to see Minnie on their screens. I think it’s important to not only take a public domain character and turn them into a horror-fueled nightmare, but to also have a motive and a story behind their cause. We are not just killing people to kill people, there’s a real cause there, one many people can relate to.” That’s a refreshing take for a subgenre that often trades depth for decapitations. Redford added, “We think audiences will enjoy her story and perhaps want more! She’s a fun character with layers, something a good villain needs.”
Minnie’s Midnight Massacre joins an ever-growing list of public domain horrors that are dragging childhood icons into blood-soaked adulthood. In recent years, The Mean One turned the Grinch into a slasher Santa substitute, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey transformed the Hundred Acre Wood into a crime scene, and Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare showed us that fairytales are just as terrifying as any urban legend. And with Steamboat Willie now free to all, 2025 and 2026 are shaping up to be the years of copyright carnage. It is almost poetic: the very symbols of innocence and joy now starring in the kinds of films that Mary Whitehouse would faint over before the opening credits finish.
What makes Minnie’s Midnight Massacre stand out, however, is its approach. Rather than going full parody or absurdist bloodbath, Bentman seems to be giving Minnie a tragic backstory, a reason for her wrath, and just enough personality to make her both terrifying and oddly sympathetic. She is less a mindless monster and more a case study in cartoon trauma—a feminist icon with a bow and a vendetta. The trailer teases a grim tone, mixing small-town revenge thriller with surreal horror, and it is hard not to be intrigued by the sight of a character who once danced with Mickey now dancing with madness.
If horror really is following in the footsteps of vinyl’s revival, then Minnie’s Midnight Massacre might be one of those collector’s cuts that fans return to for years to come, a strange cultural artefact born from legal loopholes and pure creative chaos. So buckle up, horror fans. The next generation of public domain nightmares is here, and Minnie Mouse has just proved she can squeak with the best of them.
