On a chilly, fog-laden night in New York City, the final Staten Island Ferry of the day, the Joseph Pulitzer, embarks on its journey across the harbor. A diverse group of passengers boards the ferry, including weary commuters, a quarrelsome couple, a deckhand named Pete, a fatigued EMT named Amber, a stoic Lieutenant Diaz, and a vivacious group of six women dressed as parody princesses celebrating a bachelorette party—Cindi, Jazzy, Bella, Ilsa, Ariana, and Rory.
Unbeknownst to them, a malevolent force stirs in the bowels of the ferry—an ancient, once joyful icon known as Steamboat Willie. This character has undergone a chilling transformation; no longer the cheerful symbol of entertainment, he is now a mute, sinister figure intent on wreaking havoc.
As the ferry sets sail away from the shore, unsettling occurrences begin to unfold. Flickering lights, unnatural creaking sounds, and eerie echoes permeate the corridors. Meanwhile, Cindi separates from her friends to explore the ship, taking selfies along the way. However, she fails to return. A bloodied and cracked phone is later found, along with her tiara, ominously embedded in a wall pipe and stained with blood.
The situation escalates as the ship's power flickers and control wanes. An atmosphere of panic envelops the passengers. Amber strives to regain order, while Pete searches for the captain, only to encounter an empty control room and strange drag marks leading to a locked supply closet. The passengers soon grasp that they are trapped aboard a drifting vessel, isolated and unable to call for help.
In a desperate search for answers, Jazzy follows an alluring melody emanating from the galley. There, she encounters a distorted rendition of Turkey in the Straw on a record player before being viciously attacked by Willie, who wields a butcher’s cleaver. The dreadful scene unfolds as he mutilates her face, dragging her screaming form into a deep fryer. Later, in a grim twist, her hand is discovered floating in a punch bowl during the party.
In a moment of vulnerability, a TikTok couple attempts to document their frantic escape through a livestream. Just as they hope to find an exit, the boyfriend is gruesomely harpooned through the head, his phone and skull pinned to the wall. His girlfriend’s attempt to flee results in her being snatched and dragged into the treacherous engine room, her pleas drowned out by the chaotic sounds of steam and laughter from a seemingly innocent cartoon playing on repeat.
Deckhand Pete tries to use the emergency radio, only to find it wrecked beyond use, apparently smashed by a colossal mallet composed of metal and pipes. Moments later, Willie strikes again, using an anchor chain to choke him and hoisting his body from the mast like a gruesome puppeteer’s creation.
As the numbers dwindle, only Amber, Diaz, Bella, and Rory are left alive. They seek refuge in the control room, where they uncover security footage revealing Willie as he stalked previous passengers on prior nights. Amidst the chaos, Amber begins to lose her grip on reality, her past traumas and medical burnout merging with the horrifying environment. The boundaries between cartoonish horror and her own deeper fears blur, spiraling her into psychological turmoil.
Lieutenant Diaz attempts to assemble makeshift weapons using fire axes and broken mop handles, gearing up for a crucial stand against the monstrosity. Yet, the situation spirals further out of control. Bella is distracted by whimsical sounds and dim lights, only to meet a tragic end as she is impaled through the gut by a forklift driven mockingly by Willie, mimicking a parade float from a theme park.
Despair deepens as Amber and Rory venture into the cargo hold, a nightmarish spectacle before them. Willie has arranged the bodies in grotesque, cartoonish dioramas—one bride trapped within a blood-drenched teacup ride, another spinning on a music box, her organs unnervingly exposed.
Just when it seems all hope is lost, Willie appears, singed and smoking, brandishing a whistle that ejects steam like a deadly flamethrower. In a fierce showdown, Amber devises a clever tactic to lure him into the engine gear chamber. With bravery, she tosses a lit flare into a leaking pipe, igniting a fierce inferno that engulfs the monster in flames. As he burns, staring at her with hollow eyes, his white gloves raised in a haunting farewell like a cartoon character bidding adieu.
In the aftermath, Amber and Rory manage to escape in a lifeboat, drifting into the cold night as the ferry behind them becomes engulfed in flames. The camera descends beneath the churning waves, revealing the charred, skeletal remains of Steamboat Willie, still shuddering in the murky depths, his melted mask slowly rising towards the surface, indicating that his sinister saga is far from over.
