Popeye Is Out of Copyright. Cue the Horror Movie

You've loved him as Popeye the Sailor Man. It's doubtful you'll feel the same about Popeye the Slayer Man. Deadline reports the latter is the name of a horror flick that will premiere in February in Berlin; a North American release is expected in the spring. The film tracks a group of friends who are making a documentary about a "Sailor Man" who is said to haunt an abandoned spinach factory. They break into that factory and, well, you can imagine where things go from there.

"We went old-school with this movie, using practical effects for the horror," said director Robert Michael Ryan. "We wanted the film to have a more visceral feel reminiscent of the classic horror films of the '80s." Popeye was among the characters that entered the public domain on January 1, and NPR last month reported that once there, "these works become fodder for remakes, spinoffs, and other adaptations," as happened with recent slasher films starring Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh. It notes there are reportedly three Popeye horror films being made. (More Popeye stories.)