‘The Mean One’ Review – Stink, Stank, Stunk

Directed By: Steven LaMorte

Starring: David Howard Thornton, Krystle Martin, Chase Mullins, John Bigham

Plot Summary: The Mean One is a Christmas horror parody. In a sleepy mountain town, Cindy has her parents murdered and her Christmas stolen by a blood thirsty green figure in a red Santa suit – The Mean One. But when the ravenous, Christmas hating creature begins to terrorize the town and threatens to ruin the holiday, she finds a new purpose – trapping and killing the monster.

There is an interesting new trend in taking beloved fictional properties and remixing them into fodder for horror fans. Probably the most recent example is Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, which benefits from A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh entering the public domain in January of this year. It’s worth noting that Disney still owns certain trademarked elements of the character. While the character of The Grinch is not in the public domain, the filmmakers of The Mean One found ways to get around that by being protected by the parody copyright law. This movie had so much potential due to all of the interesting aspects that could have been utilized, but does the film elevate itself above just a novelty horror outing? Sort of.

There are shades of really interesting ideas that are presented in the film, such as treating The Mean One akin to some local town cryptid that is being covered up by the mayor. While this fun idea is explored, it never feels like the filmmakers push it far enough to be clever. Oddly enough, the bulk of its worldbuilding is rushed through with the best satirical moments being saved for the finale. Not to mention this movie’s stocking is filled with generic motivations and familiar plot beats.

The acting is wildly uneven and sways from decent to downright laughable. However, David Howard Thornton, who plays the titular Mean One, really stands out from his fellow cast members. Most fans will recall Thornton as Art the Clown in the Terrifier series. Once again, the actor completely disappears into the role and transforms into the mean-green monster and makes a roast-beast dinner out of his screen time.

A lot of the above-mentioned issues still may be forgivable, but the movie has some key flaws that hold it back. Namely, it’s tonally all over the place. The more serious aspects of the movie feel strange next to the over-the-top absurdity. For a movie billed as a savage satire, The Mean One takes itself far too seriously. It also has an out of nowhere third act twist that is not hinted at or properly set up.

On the technical side, the movie lacks proper editing and at times has lackluster color grading. Outside of The Mean One’s makeup, which is masterful, especially for its budget, this movie relies too much on CGI. There is a ton of computer-generated blood which takes you out of the film. Compare this to Christmas Bloody Christmas, which gave its audience a smorgasbord of chunky, grisly practical gore effects. Frankly, CGI blood is just lazy, as it’s literally one of the cheapest special effects.

Other than the makeup and casting of The Mean One, it’s really hard to find anything redeeming here. What is so frustrating is the fact that there really are some interesting places this movie could have been taken to with such a fun concept, but it feels like the filmmakers truly did not care about crafting something that was clever or exciting. Out of the many offerings of Christmas horrors this year, The Mean One sits neatly in the middle. It’s not the dumpster fire like the many straight-to-Tubi outings, but it never reaches the heights of Christmas Bloody Christmas. Stink, Stank, Stunk.

The Mean One is currently playing in select theaters courtesy of Atlas Film Distribution. 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiFAtqmnXxU]