Welcome to Knockout Horror. We have another entry into our Festive Frights feature today as we take a look at The Mean One from 2022. For the rest of this month, we are covering nothing but Christmas themed horror. If you are looking for more, why not check out our Awful Advent category for all of our Christmas reviews from the past few years? There’s tons to look at so don’t be shy.
A Brilliant Concept
My fiancée told me about this movie and I was, seriously, way more excited about it than I should be. Following the story of a young woman returning to the town where her mother was murdered by a mysterious festive monster. The Mean One sees Cindy (Krystle Martin) attempting to overcome her tragic past and defeat the monster who ruined her childhood.
The Mean One is, basically, a comedy horror movie parody of The Grinch. David Howard Thornton, who you may know as Terrifier’s Art The Clown, plays the Christmas hating, miserable, green bastard in what can best be described as an adult imitation of Jim Carrey’s portrayal from the hit kid’s film. After murdering our protagonist’s mother, he now appears whenever anyone in Newville celebrates Christmas. Killing them in a variety of festively inspired ways.
I don’t know why, but I thought that this could work very well. Let’s be honest, the Grinch is pretty scary. The fact that he engages in grotesque displays of breaking and entering to steal Christmas trees just makes him all the more intimidating. It’s also hinted at that he has super strength and a very bad temper. Surely the story is perfect for adapting into a horror?
All you need to do is get the humour right, lean into the cheesiness a bit and make sure the gore and kills work well. It’s difficult to miss, really, right? This one almost writes itself.
I Was Wrong
Boy was I mistaken, this movie is awful. It feels utterly cheap, the kills are uninventive and not all that well done, the story is poor and the camera work is some of the worst I have seen in years. Seriously, it constantly shakes about spasmodically and makes the action incredibly difficult to follow. This is a very ugly film.
For some reason, director Steven LaMorte decided to make The Mean One character a completely mute monster instead of a wise cracking horror Grinch. He’s an animalistic killer hell bent on murdering anyone who engages in any kind of festive fun for reasons that are completely unknown until the final scenes of the film.
It feels like a massive missed opportunity to add some laughs. That doesn’t mean that the movie doesn’t earn a chuckle here and there, though. They are just not that frequent. Characters are fairly bland and difficult to invest in. There is a distinct mix of overacting and underacting and the whole movie feels far too long.
There just isn’t a whole lot to grab onto and the runtime can feel like a real chore. It doesn’t help that the Grinch character doesn’t feel very intimidating. There’s never any reason to invest in him as a threat and the decent makeup work actually makes him look a little too much like the version from the Jim Carrey movie. Robbing the character of any sense of horror.
But Is It So Bad It’s Good?
I think there is some potential for “So Bad It’s Good” laughs, here. The concept alone affords the movie some leeway when it comes to quality. Some of the scenes are so ridiculous that they do provoke a laugh. Especially the attempts to avoid referring to the creature as The Grinch. There’s some comical moments playing around with the character’s lore that work quite well and David Thornton does a great job in a very impressive physical performance as The Mean One.
You just need to have your expectations properly aligned. Grab some snacks and a few drinks. Try not to take it seriously and you might have a great time. With that being said, the ending lets the film down on all fronts, even as a “So bad it’s good” film. It is just so ridiculous that it kind of undermines everything that came before. An argument could be made that The Mean One is a little too dull to actually entertain fans of bad horror but it’s worth a shot for a bad movie night.
Should You Watch The Mean One?
If you are looking for a genuinely good, watchable, horror movie you should probably skip The Mean One. It’s poorly acted, badly filmed, boring, not scary, laboriously paced and features an awful ending. If, however, you are looking for a movie to watch for a “So bad it’s good” movie night, the concept alone makes this one worth checking out. Other than that, though, just skip it.