The Mean One is a Christmas horror parody of The Grinch

He’s as cuddly as a cactus and as charming as an eel! This year, our heartwarming story of Christmas goodness has turned into a ridiculously wild horror comedy. With all the nostalgia of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas and all the substance of Frankenhooker, The Mean One is here to shock and entertain adult audiences this holiday season.

Similar to Winnie The Pooh: Blood and Honey, this movie takes a classic childhood character and twists it into a demented killer. Is it good? Well, no… but it’s not meant to be. Whether you plan on watching it or not, let’s talk about this weird little Christmas gift.

I watched The Mean One so you don’t have to.

I’ll start with the good list. The Mean One himself is done very well. The acting and movements of David Howard Thornton are outstandingly creepy. You might know Thornton as Art the Clown from Terrifier and Terrifier 2, where he delivers an equally unsettling performance.

The Mean One includes multiple references to other Dr. Suess stories. The biggest one is the name of the power-hungry antagonist, Mayor McBean. The name is an obvious reference to Sylvester McMonkey McBean, the greedy and manipulative businessman from The Sneetches. Another central character is an old man named Zeus, who most of the town knows as Doc (yes, very funny). Along with a reference to the stories Horton Hears a Who! as well as And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, the town itself is named Newville, an obvious parody of Whoville.

The story itself is pretty fun, made only better by the narration. This is the kind of story that’s ridiculousness is enhanced by the rhyming narrator, and it makes some of the more boring parts tolerable. Let me also say that I loved the ending. I’m going to drop a spoiler alert on this point – when Cindy finally gets a hold of The Mean One, she decides to forgive him, which makes the Mean One’s heart grow three sizes and, you guessed it, explode. It was a fun play on the classic ending which felt perfect for the tone of the movie.

Big. Furry. Green.

The biggest point on The Mean One‘s naughty list is the use of CG blood. It doesn’t look good and is extremely noticeable throughout the film. Speaking of blood, I was expecting The Mean One to be packed with gore, but the violence is unfortunately underwhelming. Given that it’s rated R, I wish they would have gone all the way and stepped up the blood and guts.

Although I started the movie thoroughly invested, the story began to drag on. Somewhere around the middle, The Mean One began testing my patience and had me wishing for it to end. This could be attributed to my next point.

For a movie called The Mean One, there wasn’t nearly enough of the titular furry green monster. David Howard Thornton’s character was the main source of entertainment, but we barely got to see him. I was hoping to see lots of this bloodthirsty Grinch, but the movie was pretty much just a whole lot of amateur acting.

“I bet there’s a parallel universe somewhere where the story is a lot more fun.”

Overall, I didn’t have a terrible time watching this thing. I got to laugh, eat popcorn, and have my childhood fear of The Grinch validated. I recommend waiting for this movie to come out on streaming so that you can make fun of it with your friends. It is unclear when The Mean One will be on streaming services, but director Steven LaMorte has said that it will soon be available “for free everywhere in the U.S.”

What do you think about The Mean One? Let us know in the comments!