In recent years, there has been a seemingly unending gift bag of Christmas horror movies arriving on home media and streaming. The output is nowhere near the levels of Hallmark but when you start getting a string of quickly produced horror flicks intended to cash in on a holiday, there’s bound to be a few lumps of coal. Sometimes, you find a diamond in the rough and others, you get a gift that’s not bad, not great but somewhere in the middle and that’s exactly where The Mean One falls.
If you know the story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and who doesn’t by now, then you already know the basic plot points that gets this movie started. A young girl named Cindy witnesses a green monster in a Santa outfit in her house on Christmas. She offers him her necklace as a gift of friendship and it seems as if the encounter is going to end well…that is until her mother arrives and attacks the still unseen creature before she’s accidently killed. Cindy screams “Monster” and a defining moment now turns this seemingly borderline benevolent creature into a killer.
Flash forward years later and Cindy (Krystle Martin) is now returning to Newville with her father to confront her fears. The town no longer celebrates Christmas and it seems that her return unleashes The Mean One from the mountaintop north of Newville. The usual slasher mayhem follows with some crazy fun sequences courtesy of David Howard Thornton. Fresh off of Terrifier 2 and clearly channeling his past life as a member of the Grinch musical, Thornton is wearing a slightly darkened and dirtier version of the Jim Carrey Grinch costume. He also brings forth a little of Carrey’s manic performance with part Robin Williams and even a little bit of Pennywise. The kills are creative and as the back story unfolds, we learn a little more of what is going one. You may actually find yourself enjoying this film if you can chuckle your way through some very bad dialogue as the adult Cindy and Officer Burke (Chase Mullins) are clearly reenacting one of the latest Hallmark Christmas rom coms.
Unfortunately, the film suffers from a very low budget, inexperienced actors and the worst CGI blood I’ve seen in nearly twenty years. It definitely pulls you out of the moment. It would have been better if the producers had chosen to downplay the blood rather than going the CGI route. It doesn’t ruin the film but the end product does suffer because of it. The Mean One is also about 15 to 20 minutes longer than it needs to be. A runtime of 70-75 minutes would have been much better. And let’s not talk about the really bad news broadcaster and social media segments. Nor should we ever have to listen to that horrific pop version of Silent Night that plays as the end credits begin to roll. However, along the way, you can’t help but chuckle as the narrator rhymes his way through the flick or when we get the arrival of a doctor ever so casually referred to once as…Dr. Zuess (John Bigham)!
I think it’s a miracle that the Dr. Seuss estate allowed this movie to be made. That said, after a little research, there appears to be a very gray legal area that just might explain why it wasn’t stopped. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if some legal action does occur at some point because How the Grinch Stole Christmas is most definitely not in the public domain. While the producers of this film are very careful to not cross the line and stay firmly in the territory of parody, it’s on very thin ice indeed.
The Mean One is a lot more fun than I anticipated despite its’ flaws and if you keep your expectations a little low. It could very well be a future Christmas cult classic. In fact, I could easily see Joe Bob Briggs bringing this to a future holiday edition of The Last Drive-in. For now, it’s getting an exclusive theatrical release in Regal Cinemas but be sure to check your local show times because it’s not playing everywhere. It will likely arrive on streaming soon, in which case I’d recommend you check it out for a little something different. It may not be an instant classic but at least it’s not a deranged Easter bunny. That movie arrives in the spring!
All images are copyrighted by Sleight of Hand Productions and Atlas Film Distribution.
Monster Movie Kid 