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Revision as of 21:35, 3 June 2023 editMrWii000 (talk \| contribs)Extended confirmed users2,645 edits →Premise Tag: Reverted← Previous edit		Revision as of 21:43, 3 June 2023 edit undoLancedSoul (talk \| contribs)Extended confirmed users6,557 edits Too much? Let's try with 400-700 words for plot summary. Undid revision 1158403107 by MrWii000 (talk)Tag: Undo Next edit →
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	== Premise ==		== Premise ==
			{{More plot\|date=January 2023}}
	While everyone in the town of Newville liked Christmas, this thing doesn't and is called "The Mean One." Our story starts with him stealing Christmas from the You-Know-Who family where the daughter Cindy finds him and asks why but he just pats her on the head and waves her off. She responds by giving him her necklace. However, her mother comes down and sees them. Feeling worried for her daughter, she starts attacking him but he fights back and she ends up killed when she falls on a nail and her neck is impaled by it. An angry Cindy calls The Mean One a monster and he responds by growling at her. However, he got away and Cindy gave a description of him in a drawing but Sheriff Hooper doesn't find it as a reliable description.
			In 2000, in the sleepy mountain town of ], young Cindy You-Know-Who witnessed her mother murdered by the Mean One, a bloodthirsty green-skinned creature dressed in a red ] suit.<ref>{{Cite web \|last=DeVore \|first=Britta \|date=2022-10-10 \|title='The Mean One': A 'Grinch' Horror Parody Is Coming Our Way This December \|url=https://collider.com/the-mean-one-release-date-grinch-horror-parody/ \|access-date=2022-11-08 \|website=]}}</ref> Twenty years later, Cindy and her father return to the town at the suggestion of Cindy's therapist. But when the ravenous monster soon begins to terrorize the town and threatens to ruin the holidays, Cindy finds a new purpose in stopping and killing the beast.<ref>{{Cite web \|last=Hermanns \|first=Grant \|date=2022-10-08 \|title=The Grinch Becomes A Slasher In New Horror Movie The Mean One \|url=https://screenrant.com/mean-one-grinch-horror-movie-image-details/ \|access-date=2022-10-09 \|website=]}}</ref>

	20 years later, The Mean One is still active and a now adult Cindy returns to the town with her dad but the town starts banning Christmas decorations in order to not attract him. However, Cindy experiences nightmares from that dreadful night and one night, she and her father are preparing for Christmas until she's locked out of the house and forced to watch as The Mean One murders her father.

	The next day, she wakes up in a hospital and tries explaining what happened but Sheriff Hooper and Mayor McBean ignore her explanation and the latter seems to only care about her election than a Christmas killer. However, Officer Burke believes her and wants to help her.

	On the snowy mountains, Cindy takes pictures of it but then finds a discarded wallet belonging to Walter Mulberry and later saves a hitchhiker from The Mean One but the hitchhiker is unable to describe the attacker due to blacking out. Cindy then puts up flyers but McBean tears them down. Burke decides to help Cindy by later searching up Walter Mulberry but finds out that the guy's missing.

	At a bar, The Mean One then finds a group of Christmas travelers and traps the bartender in the freezer after killing member of the group. He then locks the door to the bar and takes out a giant candy cane. At first, the group find him entertaining but then get scared when he kills one of their own after he comes out of the bathroom. They try to escape but he manages to massacre them before destroying a gingerbread house. The bartender finally gets out but it is too late and is the only survivor. She is unable to describe the attacker due to being shock. Cindy still wants to help but Sheriff Hooper tells her to go home or come with him.

	At Cindy's house, she watches the news about the bar massacre but then her power gets turned off. As she starts turning it on, The Mean One appears and tries to attack her but she is able to close the door in time to start hiding. When she hears him coming, she attacks but then finds out it's just a harmless old man named Dr. Zeus, who had scared off the attacker and then invites Cindy for a drink.

	At the Horton's, Dr. Zeus reveals that he has to keep an eye on her and knew that when she came back into town, The Mean One would be back. He expresses sympathy towards her for the death of her parents and gives her an accurate description of the attacker. He introduces the killer as a bloodthirsty creature that hates Christmas and goes by a lot of names but mostly calls him The Mean One. He then explains that The Mean One's the reason why Newville can't celebrate Christmas and that his wife was killed by The Mean One 11 years ago. He also explains that The Mean One's heart is an empty hole. Cindy offers to have Dr. Zeus' statement be given to the sheriff.

	At the sheriff department, they make the statement but Hooper brushes them off due to Dr. Zeus being an alcoholic and is reaching a limit with Cindy but Burke believes them. Cindy starts to get angry at him and Sheriff Hooper claims that he's protecting this town before angrily telling Cindy to leave. Burke sadly tells Cindy that they have no jurisdiction out there but he can head up to the mountain.

	At the mountain, Officer Burke investigates a cave in the mountains and finds a decomposed corpse. Upon getting scared by it, he accidentally activates a stuffed toy reindeer that plays Christmas music. As he tries to turn it off, he hears The Mean One coming and decides to hide. He is dragging a dead body into his cave but finds the decomposed corpse uncovered. Burke then accidentally steps on the toy but then manages to throw it away to distract The Mean One. As The Mean One destroys the toy, he starts getting Burke's scent and searches for him but Burke manages to get away and accidentally attacks Doc, who came with a gun. Doc then advises Burke to lock himself in his home and not do anything Christmas related.

	At Cindy's home, Burke shows Cindy the wallets and agrees that something's going on here.

	The next day, Cindy then starts training and building materials needed to take down The Mean One while Burke starts searching for clues on The Mean One and finds a lot of posters of missing people, who are all hikers.

	At a bar, Doc then mournfully kisses a picture of him and his wife before drinking away his sorrows but is then arrested by Hooper for having guns without a permit. Meanwhile at the Egg Heaven, the manager Don is mutilated with a meat hatchet by The Mean One and his body parts are put in a delivery box he got.

	The next day, McBean plans to leave town and Sheriff Hooper confronts her over it. She claims to be going to Tahoe to see her sister until New Years but Hooper doesn't care for that and just wonders if McBean did anything that would "bite him in the a**". McBean responds by asking who's looking and when being told that there's trained eyes, she wants him to look elsewhere and he's opened to suggestions. She claims that she's not his deputy anymore and that she can't do his job too which he angrily responds by claiming everything's changed and pointed out the hikers, the diner, Doc, and now Cindy before telling her that the truth will soon see the light of day, indirectly revealing that they might know about The Mean One but are covering it up. McBean remorselessly tells him to extend the night and that if she burns, she's pulling him into the fire. She then leaves.

	At Cindy's house, Cindy is wondering about The Mean One before Burke arrives and reveals that he found something about the hikers. They went hiking in the mountains and went missing during Christmas where The Mean One is seen in the background of every photo that was taken. It's then revealed that the mountains were reserved for hikers and the one who gave them the reservations is Mayor McBean, revealing that she has been luring them to their deaths. Burke put out word to highway patrol to probably search for her. However, Cindy's only concern is The Mean One.

	On the road, McBean's car breaks down in the middle of the road and starts playing music. She unsuccessfully tries to stop the music and goes out to check on her engine but is then attacked by The Mean One, who bites her cheek off. He then knocks her to the ground and drags her to her trunk. He then slams the trunk door on her neck several times until her head falls off, killing the corrupt mayor and avenging the lives that she sacrificed. Her severed head is then seen with her election sticker on the lips while her headless body is dragged away.

	At the Sheriff's department, Burke confronts Hooper and the latter finally confesses that he didn't go with McBean's idea at first but after seeing The Mean One murdering a girl named Stephanie and unsuccessfully feeding him animals, he realized that The Mean One is only interested in killing humans and ended up going along with McBean's idea to sacrifice random people, revealing that they not only gaslighted Cindy into thinking she was insane but they also had Cindy's parents and Doc's wife killed. Burke is angry at him for this and Hooper tries to claim that he only took an oath to protect the town and his people but doesn't see the random victims as his people and thinks that he's only saving lives. However, Burke and Doc are angered and disgusted by this because of how many innocent lives were killed and Burke decided to go kill The Mean One so Cindy won't get killed, much to the protests of Doc and Hooper. However, Hooper does give Doc the keys to his cell.

	At Cindy's house, Doc visits her but steps in her snare. However, Doc decides to warn her about Burke going to confront The Mean One. Cindy then cuts Doc down and they go to save Burke.

	At the cave, Burke starts searching for The Mean One and takes out a gun to shoot him. He then tries luring The Mean One out by singing Christmas songs but doing bad at it until he hears him. However, he falls in a trap and gets his foot caught in a bear trap. As he's trying to get free and also trying to get his gun, he then sees The Mean One holding a mistletoe and mockingly making kissy faces. However, he is saved by a redeemed Hooper, who shoots The Mean One to scare him off. He then gets Burke out of the trap and decides to stay behind to right the wrongs that he did. As Cindy and Doc pick up Burke, Hooper sacrifices himself to The Mean One, who kills him. The others hear the noise and Cindy finds Hooper's severed arm. Cindy blames herself for all that's happening and decides to end The Mean One's killing spree once and for all as Burke is taken to the hospital.

	At Cindy's house, she decides to lure him with Christmas lights and songs. She then pretends to sleep on the couch as The Mean One breaks inside the house via the chimney and prepares to kill her but she wakes up in time to kick him off and Doc helps her out by shooting at him. Cindy prepares to kill him with a shotgun but he's suddenly gone. As they are searching for him, The Mean One suddenly appears and attacks Doc but Cindy saves him. After Cindy checks to make sure that Doc is okay, she then continues her hunt for The Mean One until he attacks her and they start fighting. She tries shooting at him until he falls into a bear trap but that doesn't affect him. Cindy then picks up a basebal bat covered with Christmas lights and attacks him with it until he fights back and she is forced to run away while distracting him with ornament grenades. As she goes back inside her house, she finds him inside her house and he starts assaulting her with his claws until Doc stuns him with loud noises from the police car and Cindy incapacitates him with an explosive trap.

	Too injured from the explosion to fight, Cindy prepares to end him but then sees that he kept her necklace and asked him the same question she asked him the night that he started stealing Christmas from her during her childhood. It is revealed that her mother's death was unintentional and The Mean One was horrified by what he did but he then became a monster when Cindy called him one and his heart became much smaller. Understanding that he wasn't always a monster, she kisses his cheek and forgives him for what he did. This causes his heart to grow three sizes big and he seems to be changing his murderous ways but his heart starts growing way too big and Cindy steps back as his heart explodes from over expansion, killing him and ending his killing spree.

	After his death, he has become a famous urban legend across the world due to a photo of him and is attracting a lot of people to Newville while the town of Newville celebrates Christmas again, Cindy and Burke enter a relationship, and Doc stops drinking. However, the narrator claims that the happily ever after will most likely last until next year. The film ends with The Mean One's roaring sound, as if indicating that he might come back in a possible sequel to the film.

	== Cast ==		== Cast ==

Revision as of 21:43, 3 June 2023

2022 film by Steven LaMorte

The Mean One
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Steven LaMorte
Screenplay by	Flip Kobler Finn Kobler
Story by	Steven LaMorte
Based on	How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr. Seuss
Produced by	Amy Schumacher Steven LaMorte Martine Melloul
Starring	David Howard Thornton Krystle Martin Chase Mullins John Bigham Erik Baker Flip Kobler Amy Schumacher
Cinematography	Christopher Sheffield
Edited by	Mathew Roscoe
Music by	Yael Benamour
Production companies	Sleight of Hand Productions Amy Rose Productions Kali Pictures
Distributed by	Atlas Film Distribution
Release date	December 9, 2022 (2022-12-09)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$612,260

The Mean One is a 2022 American Christmas black comedy slasher film directed by Steven LaMorte and written by Flip and Finn Kobler. The film serves as an unauthorized horror retelling of Dr. Seuss' 1957 children's book How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and stars David Howard Thornton as the eponymous character, with Krystle Martin, Chase Mullins, John Bigham, Erik Baker, Flip Kobler, and Amy Schumacher in supporting roles. It follows a young woman as she attempts to defend her childhood town from a green-skinned creature who goes on a murderous rampage during the holiday season.

The film was first announced on October 7, 2022, by XYZ Films, who collaborated with A Sleight of Hand Productions, Amy Rose Productions and Kali Pictures on its production. Because it is unauthorized, the film never uses the language of the original book.

The Mean One was released theatrically on December 9, 2022, to negative reviews from critics.

Premise

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In 2000, in the sleepy mountain town of Newville, young Cindy You-Know-Who witnessed her mother murdered by the Mean One, a bloodthirsty green-skinned creature dressed in a red Santa suit. Twenty years later, Cindy and her father return to the town at the suggestion of Cindy's therapist. But when the ravenous monster soon begins to terrorize the town and threatens to ruin the holidays, Cindy finds a new purpose in stopping and killing the beast.

Cast

David Howard Thornton as the Mean One
Krystle Martin as Cindy
- Saphina Chanadet as young Cindy
Chase Mullins as Officer Burke
John Bigham as Doc Zeuss
Erik Baker as Sheriff Hooper
Flip Kobler as Lou
Amy Schumacher as Mayor McBean
Christopher Sanders as The Narrator

Production

On October 7, 2022, XYZ Films announced that they were collaborating with A Sleight of Hands Productions, Amy Rose Productions and Kali Pictures on distributing an unauthorized parody of Dr. Seuss's 1957 children's book How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, which would take place in a horror-like setting.

XYZ Films' Manager of Acquisitions and Development Alex Williams stated:

As a passionate fan of seasonal horror (and the Terrifier franchise), The Mean One is exactly the kind of film that lands on my personal 'nice list.' This movie is a stunningly great time with a ferociously subversive turn from David Howard Thornton – and XYZ Films is so proud to be bringing this soon-to-be iconic Christmas slasher to audiences this holiday season.

On November 23, 2022, it was announced that the film would theatrically debut on December 9, 2022, courtesy of Atlas Film Distribution, with XYZ Films no longer involved in the release of the film.

Release

The Mean One was released theatrically in the United States on December 9, 2022.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 21% based on 19 reviews, with an average rating of 3.8/10. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 29 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Matt Donato of IGN gave the film a 4 out of 10 rating, calling it "a rather inept slasher that ceremoniously wastes The Grinch as a slasher villain, thanks to some of the worst computer effects you'll find in the horror genre." He praised Thornton's performance as "the best part of The Mean One", but added that he is "handcuffed" by the film's low budget.

Vikram Murthi of IndieWire gave it a "D+" grade rating, writing: "While The Mean One wraps up in a predictable fashion, albeit with a somewhat reactionary message that calling out monstrous acts leads people (or Grinches?) to turn into murderous monsters, it also acknowledges social media's involvement in the film's existence. The Mean One originally was a trailer that ostensibly turned into a viral sensation, so much so that it motivated LaMorte to make a full-length feature. Sure enough, the film plays like a plodding, 90-minute version of a two-minute joke that doesn't even have the decency to be funny. A sight gag of a killer Grinch is good for a snort or a half-hearted chuckle. If you build a feature film around him, you become a Grinch yourself."

Alex DiVincenzo of Bloody Disgusting gave the film a 2.5 out of 5 rating, writing: "a concept this outrageous is begging to go full camp, but only occasional moments of self awareness shine among material that's otherwise played straight." He adds that " majority of the performances border on melodramatic", while "Thornton carries the film on his back like a sack of presents."

References

"The Mean One". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
"The Mean One (2022)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
Squires, John (October 7, 2022). "'The Mean One' – XYZ Films Releasing 'Grinch' Slasher Movie Spoof This December". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
DeVore, Britta (October 10, 2022). "'The Mean One': A 'Grinch' Horror Parody Is Coming Our Way This December". Collider. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
Hermanns, Grant (October 8, 2022). "The Grinch Becomes A Slasher In New Horror Movie The Mean One". Screen Rant. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
Cavanaugh, Patrick (October 7, 2022). "The Mean One: Horror Parody of the Grinch Debuting in December". ComicBook.com. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
Squires, John (November 23, 2022). "'The Mean One' – Unofficial Grinch Horror Movie Slashes into Theaters on December 9th". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
Anderson, Carys (October 9, 2022). "Grinch horror movie, The Mean One, coming this Christmas". Consequence. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
"The Mean One". Rotten Tomatoes. December 8, 2022. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
"The Mean One Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
Donato, Matt (December 7, 2022). "The Mean One Review". IGN. Retrieved December 9, 2022.
Murthi, Vikram (December 6, 2022). "'The Mean One' Review: A Killer Grinch Bores You to Death in an Unauthorized Slasher Parody of Dr. Seuss". IndieWire. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
DiVincenzo, Alex (December 6, 2022). "'The Mean One' Review – Unofficial Grinch Horror Movie Plays Out Like a SYFY Mockbuster". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved December 9, 2022.

External links

The Mean One at IMDb

Dr. Seuss

Characters

Bibliography

Adaptations

Television series	The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show (1956–1957) The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss (1996–1998) Gerald McBoing-Boing (2005–2007) The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! (2010–2018) episodes Green Eggs and Ham (2019–2022)
Television specials	Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966) Horton Hears a Who! (1970) The Cat in the Hat (1971) The Lorax (1972) Dr. Seuss on the Loose (1973) The Hoober-Bloob Highway (1975) Halloween Is Grinch Night (1977) Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You? (1980) The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat (1982) The Butter Battle Book (1989) In Search of Dr. Seuss (1994) Daisy-Head Mayzie (1995)
Film	Horton Hatches the Egg (short; 1942) Gerald McBoing-Boing (short; 1950) How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) The Cat in the Hat (2003) Horton Hears a Who! (2008) The Lorax (2012) The Grinch (2018)
Video games	Dr. Seuss' Fix-Up the Mix-Up Puzzler (1984) The Grinch (2000) The Cat in the Hat (2003) Dr. Seuss: Green Eggs and Ham (2003) Dr. Seuss: How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2007)
Other media	Welcome (Russian short film) Seussical (musical) Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" (song) The Cat in the Hat (play) The Lorax (musical) Dr. Seuss' The Grinch Musical Live! (musical) Dr. Seuss's ABC (musical) Green Eggs and Ham (musical) The Cat in the Hat (musical)

Other works

as "Theo. LeSieg". Posthumous.

v t e Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
Characters	The Grinch
Book	How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957)
Adaptations	How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966 TV special) How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical (1994) How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000 live-action film) The Grinch (2018 animated film) The Grinch Musical Live! (2020 TV special)
Video games	The Grinch (2000) Dr. Seuss: How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2007) The Grinch: Christmas Adventures (2023)
Spin-off stories	Halloween Is Grinch Night (1977 TV special) The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat (1982 TV special)
Music	"You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" (1966) "Green Christmas" (2000) "Lonely Christmas Eve" (2000) "Where Are You Christmas?" (2000) Soundtrack and score (2018) Music Inspired by Illumination & Dr. Seuss' The Grinch (2018)
Related	Whoville Dr. Seuss Memorial How the Sith Stole Christmas (2002) Horton and the Kwuggerbug and More Lost Stories The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss The Mean One (2022)
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