WTF?

Yes, 2022 Has Spawned A Grinch Horror Movie Very Much Not For Kids

To celebrate the end of 2022, the classic Grinch story has taken a hard right turn — and it’s very much not for family movie night.

by Devan McGuinness
Updated: 
Originally Published: 
still from the horror parody 'The Mean One'
Atlas Film Distribution

One of the best things about the holiday season is watching our favorite holiday specials with our family. We love the predictable, feel-good storylines. Scrooge always comes around in the end. Gruber always falls off that building. And the Grinch’s heart always grows three sizes — well, until now. To celebrate the end of 2022, the classic Grinch story has taken a hard right turn — and it’s very much not for family movie night. Get ready for The Mean One.

The Mean One is a new movie set to release in theaters in early December, but this story is very different than the loveable green guy we grew up knowing. Flipping the script, The Mean One takes the classic kid-friendly storyline into a horror parody fit for nightmares.

According to Entertainment Weekly, the slasher-horror movie directed by Steven LaMorte stars David Howard Thornton, who plays the hairy, green grump. Like the classic story, the Grinch hates Christmas and lives just outside Newville, a town that embraces everything the holiday season brings.

But, unlike the typical childhood movie, when the Grinch heads down to steal Christmas, he’s got more sinister plans — and the young Cindy You-Know-Who is there to stop him.

In this storyline, Cindy hates the Grinch not because she caught him trying to steal her tree — she has a classic superhero origin story because the Grinch murdered her parents twenty years prior. And now she wants revenge.

“When the Mean One launches a new reign of terror that threatens to destroy Christmas, Cindy finds a bold new purpose — trapping and killing the monster,” Entertainment Weekly writes.

The movie probably isn’t going to be for everyone (most certainly not for the kids), but there’s definitely a market for parody-style horror movies. Earlier this year, Winnie the Pooh was featured in a similar style horror movie, so it’s not a stretch for it to be the Grinch’s turn.

The Mean One hits theaters on December 9, 2022.

Here’s how to stream all the classic versions of The Grinch.

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