We all know the story of How The Grinch Stole Christmas and the Who's down in Whoville-but what about the horror parody version that was released back in 2022? I wasn't aware of this fact right away before I decided to dive into this one earlier this morning-but David Howard Thornton, who has played Art The Clown in all three of the Terrifier flicks-also plays a gory, nasty version of The Grinch here in The Mean One. I was mentally prepared to completely dismantle the shit out of this flick before I even decided that I wanted to sit through it's ninety two minute run time, but it genuinely surprised me in a lot more aspects than what I was expecting. For one, the cinematography is very clean, crisp and colorful. Specifically the reds, greens and whites that were employed in the color palette popped vigorously and gave the film an overall cheerier and more holiday infused tone-paralleled to all of the kills and gore-which somehow bore into the back of my mind as this thing trudged onward. It gave me a sense of Christmas and Hanukkah (I'll explain soon) that was completely needed here to make it to the end, even though I actually enjoyed all of the characters, their situations and how everything melded together towards the wrap-up that elevated The Mean One slightly higher than a purgatory picture. Just slightly though. This isn't going to end up being my new addition to my Christmas watch list with that already being populated with the likes of Christmas Evil, Christmas Vacation, Jingle All The Way and Krampus. Oh yeah, I can't forget to leave out Die Hard and Cobra. Those are Christmas flicks, and if you don't agree-get killed by The Grinch. The Mean One is a select flick that I might revisit every couple of holiday seasons if I'm in the mood for it, but it's not a new staple. Maybe a cult following would garner that tradition. But not me. So basically what happens here in The Mean One is that when it begins, Cindy Lou Who (yeah-they used the character names from the original cartoon) is probably about eight or nine years old and she sees Santa Clause by the tree and gives him a kiss on the cheek and some Santa necklace that she was wearing. Her mother barrels into the room screaming that Santa is a monster, she beats the hell out of him with what looks like a giant plastic candle decoration or Nutcracker of some sort, and then she ends up getting killed because Santa knocks her over and goes face first on something sharp on the floor. We get the same kind of sing-songy, rhyming kind of narration that is found in the original Grinch cartoon that transitions us twenty years later back to Newville (not Whoville) and Cindy is about in her later twenties or early thirties at this point. Her and her father decide that it's a good idea to come back to the house that her mother and his wife was killed in to rekindle some kind of Christmas spirit. The reason is never really explained, but it happens to just to move this thing along and to get back to where The Grinch murders random people for participating in anything that has to do with Christmas. Lights, decor, carols, presents-anything. We meet the Sheriff, Deputy and the Mayor that wants to get re-elected, and gets every annoying with pasting re-election stickers on random townsfolk's chests as they are eating at the diner or anywhere. We also realize very quickly that the Sheriff is a jackass and the Deputy is some Jewish dude that looks like he belongs in the Twilight movies. Towards the end, he tries to remember the words to some Christmas songs that would piss off The Grinch to get him to come out of his cave, but he instead starts singing a Hanukkah song about a dreidel-which still pisses off The Grinch and makes him come out of his cave anyway. Maybe he hates Hanukkah and Judaism too. He despises all religious celebrations equally. Huh-my kind of DEI. Really the best parts of The Mean One are seeing the actress that plays Cindy in the shower at one point, and the merciless killings of The Grinch through the entire affair-especially the one in the middle where he slaughters an entire group of drunken idiots at a bar and grill (who are all dressed up as Santa Clause or the female versions of) that's already closed. So they get served iced tea. And viscera. And their own body parts. The Mean One never reaches the heights of brutality the way that the Terrifier flicks do, but I didn't want it to. I wanted it to be a fun and funny horror version of How The Grinch Stole Christmas-and that's basically what I received. All nice and neat and cleanly wrapped in a gleaming, shiny Christmas package. Even though I only plan on opening it every few holiday seasons or so.