This year has already seen beloved children’s character Winnie the Pooh become a deranged serial killer inWinnie the Pooh: Blood and Honeyfollowing the A.A. Milne creation entering the public domain. Now it looks like Dr. Seuss character The Grinch is also taking a nasty turn in new horror movieThe Mean One, which will see the grumpy green Christmas hater turn into a violent menace around the festive season.
The Grinch is no stranger to being adapted for both TV and cinema, withJim Carrey playing a live action versionof the character,Benedict Cumberbatch voicing the rolein a recent animated movie and horror icon Boris Karloff lending his voice to the classic 1966 animated TV special. This time around it sounds like the not-so-jolly green creature is not coming out to entertain the kids.
As reported byBloody Disgusting,The Mean Onewill retain some of the classic storyHow The Grinch Stole Christmas, but will both parody it and twist it into a horror slasher movie, which starsTerrifier’s David Howard Thorntonin the titular role. According to the blurb, “The Mean One(David Howard Thornton) is a hairy, green-skinned grump in a Santa suit, living on a mountain high above the town of Newville, despising the holiday season. Young Cindy You-Know-Who (Krystle Martin), whose parents were butchered by The Mean One twenty Christmases earlier, is returning to town to seek closure… but is about to discover that this fiend with a heart two sizes to small is still quite eager to carve the roast beast.”
Related:Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey Team Have Peter Pan and Thor in Their Sights
The Mean One Continues The Trend of Reimagining Children’s Characters in Horror Movies
The Mean Oneis the second movie this year to see a much-loved children’s character being transformed into a horrifying killer,afterWinnie the Pooh: Blood and Honeyturned Pooh and Piglet into sadistic monsters. Coming in quick succession, these movies are almost setting up a new sub-genre that could potentially see many other classic children’s characters becoming R-rated for the entertainment of adults.
Alex Williams, the Manager of Acquisitions and Development at XYZ Films, who are distributing the movie, commented in a statement:
“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.”
Of course this is not something that is entirely new. The world of comic books and video games have previously dipped into classic children’s literature to deliver some gruesome iterations of the likes ofAlice in Wonderland in American Mcgee’s Alice,which itself seems to be heading forward with a TV series adaptation. After the attention Blood and Honey gained, and with its creator saying he is already considering Peter Pan as another possible target,The Mean One’s success this Christmas could well see many more of these movies being made in the near future.
