

Nevertheless, it’s difficult to ignore the garish color grading that looks like day-for-night photography gone horribly awry, the unseemly digital blood splatter that permeates every kill scene, or the ludicrous editing choices that seem to actively fight against visual continuity.
#Hyper slasher movie
It’s probably unfair to criticize the production values in a movie like “The Mean One,” which proudly revels in its low budget like many B-movies of yore. Without any comedy to speak of in an all-but-name-only parody film, what remains is a very cheaply made slasher picture. The Koblers expend too much energy trying to flesh out two-dimensional characterizations and a “believable” backstory for the monster’s continued existence, which involves a local government conspiracy that goes straight to the top but mainly concerns a not-so-buried IP address, when accepting the sheer ridiculousness of the concept would be the preferable option.

Besides those obligatory nods, however, “The Mean One” exhibits so much generic vagueness that Cindy might as well be taking revenge on a hyper-determined bear enraged by Christmas lights and red suits. There are also minor references to too-tight shoes and hearts two sizes too small, as well as a rhyming voiceover narration that broadly recalls Boris Karloff’s from the original adaptation. Sure, they can’t actually say the word “Grinch,” a fact that is alluded to anytime a character comes close to uttering the word.
#Hyper slasher crack
Parodies are theoretically supposed to be funny, but it’s almost as if there was an explicit directive not to crack any jokes, let alone exhibit any pleasure, in a film that deliberately skirts copyright infringement to bring a sadistic Grinch to theaters.Įven the film’s mischievous use of the First Amendment leaves much to be desired. Instead, the film bafflingly welcomes the grim severity of a trauma narrative (again, involving a Grinch who slaughters anyone with holiday spirit) as well as the painfully sincere melodrama that’s part and parcel with made-for-TV movies. Everyone involved with “The Mean One” takes its absurd premise entirely too seriously, with the possible exception of Thornton himself, who at least tries to have fun playing a non-verbal, mass-murdering Grinch. There’s plenty of fun to be had by utilizing fair use law to turn a classic Seussian tale into a gory, funny romp, but LaMorte and screenwriters Flip and Finn Kobler don’t exactly embrace the assignment. To avenge her parents, she must kill the creature herself once and for all. After the beast gruesomely kills Cindy’s father, Cindy tries to warn the town that they’re in danger, but her concerns are summarily dismissed by the sheriff (Erik Baker) and the Trump-like mayor (Amy Schumacher). Twenty years later, Cindy returns to Newville to sell the family home, only to discover that the monster still terrorizes the town.

Cindy You-Know-Who (Krystle Martin) from the mountain town of Newville - do you see where this is going? - witnesses a green-skinned monster (Thornton) dressed as Santa murder her mother as a child. ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Review: DiCaprio Gives His Best Performance for Scorsese’s Bitterest Crime Epicĭirector Steven LaMorte cheekily repurposes Seussian iconography into a low-budget horror / Lifetime holiday movie mashup that strains for the B-movie camp of Syfy’s “Sharknado” series.
