grinch horror movie review

'The Mean One' Review: The Grinch Stole the Fun From This Horror Flick

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The Mean One is the horror-movie reimagining of Dr. Seuss ’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas , told from the point of view of Cindy Lou Who as an adult. Sounds like a wacky, wonky, fractured fairytale, right? The film starts off with rhyming narration, fitting in with the original, and has a cute little girl with pigtails… witnessing a traumatic horror amidst the sparkling glow of Christmas lights. That seems like the perfect start to a silly horror film. Unfortunately, it’s not.

The Mean One starts where The Grinch ends, with Cindy befriending The Mean One… except that her mother comes downstairs and freaks out when she sees her daughter with a monster. Mom attacks The Mean One, The Mean One fights back, and kills her.

RELATED: 'The Mean One': Release Date, Trailer, Plot & Everything We Know So Far About the Grinch Horror Movie

20 years later, Cindy ( Krystle Martin ) returns to Newville with her father to sell the old family house and, hopefully, put the trauma of seeing her mom killed behind her. Dad is especially disappointed when they show up in town and discover that Newville hasn’t just lost their Christmas spirit; they have seemingly banished it. No one decorates, no one celebrates, you can’t even buy anything Christmassy in the stores. Dad refuses to accept this and finds every bit of tinsel he can to decorate the house and bring some holiday cheer into his daughter’s life. Of course, that holiday cheer also brings out The Mean One ( David Howard Thornton ), who sees the decorations and kills Dad while Cindy is taking out the garbage, leaving her convinced that the Christmas Killer is back to finish the job.

While cleaning up her father’s blood, Cindy discovers a strange flower. She traces it back to a specific hiking trail; more specifically, a cave on this hiking trail. In this cave, she finds the wallets of missing hikers and, with the help of a cute young deputy (whom the film makes a very pointed attempt to show is Jewish), she begins to investigate. After meeting with a strange, drunk man who looks suspiciously like Santa Claus and tells Cindy about The Mean One, Cindy begins training herself, determined to face down her demon herself.

Personally, I love the idea of destroying childhood stories with tales of bloodthirsty killers and other, decidedly not PG-rated story devices. Unfortunately… this just isn’t it. It was cute, the different ways that they tried to get around using the name “The Grinch,” and other ways they obviously tried to tie into the Dr. Seuss story without getting slammed for copyright infringement. But it lacked one, very important thing to make this kind of movie work.

What The Mean One lacked was a sense of humor. This kind of spoofy-type horror movie needs to understand that it is not meant to be serious. It needs to understand and accept that it is meant to be ridiculous, over-the-top, and silly. For example, there are a number of scenes that felt straight out of a Lifetime or Hallmark Channel Christmas movie – but they felt like they were trying too hard to be genuine. I wanted something cheesy, tacky, over-the-top, and laughably ridiculous.

While the murder scenes were good (especially the mass murder in the diner), there just weren’t enough of them. There was plenty of blood splatter, but it was all digital blood, which frankly, just feels lazy in this day and age. Bring us more slaughter, and real, fake blood. There was a general lack of playfulness in this film. Everyone felt like they were taking their roles very seriously.

The one exception was The Mean One, played with aplomb by Art the Clown himself, David Howard Thornton. He knows how to play a non-verbal psycho-killer who can emote from behind makeup. He looked like he was enjoying himself; he looked like he was having a little bit of fun with the role. And how could you not? The Mean One costume and makeup looked quite good, and surprisingly similar to Jim Carrey ’s look in the official How The Grinch Stole Christmas movie from 2000.

I wanted to like The Mean One , I really did. But aside from The Mean One himself, there was too much not to like in this film.

Rating : C-

The Mean One

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Parents' guide to, the mean one.

The Mean One movie poster: Scary Grinch and someone screaming

Common Sense Says
Parents Say 2 Reviews
Kids Say 3 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Violent Grinch horror parody has lots of blood, death.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 16+?

Several murders committed by The Mean One featuring lots of blood and gore. A wo

"Motherf--ker"

A couple kisses and takes a shower together; their bodies are only shown from th

Characters drink in bars and social settings, including holiday parties.

Based on a popular book and movie character.

Any Positive Content?

Don't judge a book by its cover or accuse others of wrongdoing without any evide

Although Cindy spends most of the film trying to find and kill The Mean One, she

Most of the cast is White; a Black actress, Victoria Ippolito, plays a waitress,

Parents need to know that The Mean One is an unauthorized horror parody of How the Grinch Stole Christmas . There is one use of "motherf--ker," and characters drink alcohol in bars and social settings. A couple kisses and take a shower, where they are shown from the waist up, but nothing graphic is shown. There are endless violent scenes where The Mean One kills people using various weapons and methods, including death by candy cane, beatings, and slashing. The violence is relentless and tries to be cartoonish, but there is lots of blood and death by "heart explosion." Characters fall into male/female stereotypes: women are dim-witted and dramatic, and men solve everything using violence. The only positive message is not judging others based on their looks.

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Violence & Scariness

Several murders committed by The Mean One featuring lots of blood and gore. A woman dies when her neck is pierced by a nail, The Mean One smashes a glass on someone, and blood is splattered everywhere. The Mean One uses a candy cane to strangle someone; he also kills over a dozen people in a bar by slashing and beating them. Cindy tries to murder The Mean One but decides not to do it in the end. A character dies when their heart explodes.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

A couple kisses and takes a shower together; their bodies are only shown from the waist up, and nothing graphic is shown.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Positive messages.

Don't judge a book by its cover or accuse others of wrongdoing without any evidence. The importance of listening to each other.

Positive Role Models

Although Cindy spends most of the film trying to find and kill The Mean One, she eventually learns a lesson about what happens when others are made to feel like monsters based on their looks.

Diverse Representations

Most of the cast is White; a Black actress, Victoria Ippolito, plays a waitress, but is given nothing significant to do. Characters fall into male/female stereotypes. The women are dim-witted, overly dramatic, and never aware of the dangers around them. The men are arrogant, loud, and think they can fix everything with sheer force. They also think women make things up and choose not to believe them. Cindy is the only woman who doesn't fit the stereotypes, but she also believes violence is the best way to seek revenge.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

Parents say (2)
Kids say (3)

Based on 2 parent reviews

Fun for the family

What's the story.

One Christmas Eve, as THE MEAN ONE begins, a green creature dressed like Santa attempts to steal the Christmas decorations in the town of Newville. When he enters Cindy's (Saphina Chanadet) house he is surprised by her mother (Tina Van Berk,) who ends up dead after an accidental mishap with The Mean One (David Howard Thornton). Shocked by the events, the town stopped celebrating Christmas. Twenty years later, a grown Cindy (Krystle Martin) swears she will avenge her late mother and sets out on a hunt for the creature. She lures him with Christmas decorations that lead to him going on a murderous spree all over town, forcing Cindy to come to terms with the price everyone has to pay for her revenge.

Is It Any Good?

Don't bother. The trickiest thing about a parody is that it has to both poke fun and pay tribute to the piece it's based on -- imitation working as both flattery and subversion. In The Mean One, director Steven LaMorte takes on How the Grinch Stole Christmas , one of the most beloved holiday tales, which itself was a darkly comedic take on capitalism, as Dr. Seuss pointed out the true meaning of Christmas had nothing to do with gifts, decorated trees, and fancy dinners. In this unauthorized parody, as the Mean One attempts to steal the decorations in Newville, he accidentally kills Cindy's mother, and Cindy grows up into a Tarantino-esque avenger who vows to find and destroy the monster.

She lures him with Christmas decorations only to realize he's become a full-blown serial killer since their last encounter. The film turns into a cat-and-mouse game with The Mean One wreaking bloody havoc on innocent townspeople as they try to stop him. If LaMorte meant to show us there is also monstrosity in Cindy, his take on Frankenstein lacks subtlety and coherence, but most of all, it's not very entertaining. This is a parody without self-awareness, which prevents it from playing out like the cult movie it wants to be. Worst of all, it fails to illuminate anything Dr. Seuss didn't say so much better and with so much style in his classic book. As usual, the good doctor gets the last laugh.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about parodies and their purpose. What is The Mean One trying to do with Dr. Seuss' classic tale? Does it succeed? Why or why not?

Why do you think the Mean One hates Christmas decorations so much? Could he have solved his issue without hurting others?

The Mean One is called a monster because of the way he looks. How can we be more careful with the names we call others? Have you ever been called something that hurt you?

Movie Details

On DVD or streaming : December 9, 2022
Cast : David Howard Thornton , Krystle Martin , Chase Mullins
Director : Steven LaMorte
Inclusion Information : Female actors
Studio : XYZ Films
Genre : Horror
Run time : 93 minutes
MPAA rating : NR
Last updated : March 3, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.