April 4: World Rat Day — Celebrate this holiday by writing about a movie with a rat in it.

Directed and written by Nick Lives, this was the first of the many Steamboat Willie cash-ins after it went into the public domain. However, it’s way better than others like Mouse of Horrors and The Mouse Trap.

Instead of a slasher, this is a found-footage film, a lost 1928 documentary about the disappearance of the S.S. Willie in 1909. The claim is that all prints of this film were lost in a fire, but a man named Ben Collin is looking into what happened to the entire crew, who are unnamed but are anthropomorphic animals. The Cabin Boy was trying to make one last voyage and planning on being married. When the wreck of the ship is found, The Captain seems to have killed himself and The First Mate and Deckhands have all been transformed into skeletal instruments. The Cabin Boy and The Chambermaid were never found.

This has a creepy look to it, and unlike the inspiration, Pete isn’t the villain. Mickey—The Cabin Boy—and Minnie—The Chambermaid—are. The vacant stare of the mouse is just plain scary.

I get it — this is a mouse and not a rat. But how many times can I write about Rats: The Night of Terror?

This is one of the few Mickey projects with some originality and isn’t just using the character’s look to make a cheap horror movie.

You can watch this on YouTube.