The Mean One

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1:32

The Mean One

2022

1h 33m

Holiday

Horror

Comedy

Action

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

22%

Tomatometer

27 Reviews

50%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Verified Ratings

One Christmas Eve in a sleepy mountain town, Cindy's family is killed and her Christmas is stolen by a bloodthirsty green grouch in a Santa suit. 20 years later, Cindy returns to town with one goal -- trapping and killing The Mean One.

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Critics Consensus

A killjoy entry into the debauched children's story horror canon, The Mean One delivers a seasonally macabre bag of lime green coal.

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Matthew Jackson

AV Club

Jan 9, 2023

D-

For a film with such a promising premise, it turns out to be a plodding example of how to squander potential.

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Nick Allen

RogerEbert.com

Dec 9, 2022

1/4

A parody only by legal definition, The Mean One has no teeth as a naughty comedy or gory horror.

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Richard Roeper

Chicago Sun-Times

Dec 9, 2022

2/4

The Mean One has a handful of inspired lines, e.g., “Time to roast this beast!” but the production values, editing, score and photography are average at best, and we’re left with a film that will be remembered mostly for a cleverly twisted marketing hook.

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Yasmin Kleinbart

InBetweenDrafts

Apr 14, 2026

1/10

You might want to just stick to the 1960s cartoon.

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Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

Dec 25, 2025

2.5/4.0

I found David Howard Thornton's Grinch to be a gas.- and I found myself drawn to Krystle Martin's Cindy You-Know-Who as she returns to the Newville of her traumatic past.

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Jose Solís

Common Sense Media

Feb 6, 2024

This is a parody without self-awareness, which prevents it from playing out like the cult movie it wants to be.

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Ricardo

Dec 29, 2022

Bad acting lol low budget movie, kinda funny over all it wasn’t that bad

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Gregory

Dec 26, 2022

Mean one’s makeup and mannerism are really well done. The other acting is obviously a tad cheesy but overall had fun watching!! Merry Christmas!

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Eric

Dec 22, 2022

The Mean One should of been a person dressed as the grinch, not a monster, I like how they made small funny references to the grinch movie lol. Its was funny n good chill movie

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Clifford

Dec 19, 2022

The worst movie I ever seen

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Derek

Dec 18, 2022

I understand it is supposed to be bad but it somehow exceeded it's intentional corniness. This by a mile is the worst movie I've ever seen ina theater. How this managed to get the distribution it did boggles me mind. If I could give it less than half a star I would have

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Amanda

Dec 18, 2022

I loved the idea and the way they kept the villain similar to the character he was based on. Why this idea hasnt been done before makes no sense. The movie definitely works, Cult Classic anyone?

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Steven LaMorte

Director

David Howard Thornton

The Mean One

Krystle Martin

Cindy

Chase Mullins

Detective Burke

John Bigham

Doc

Erik Baker

Sheriff Hooper

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Synopsis

One Christmas Eve in a sleepy mountain town, Cindy's family is killed and her Christmas is stolen by a bloodthirsty green grouch in a Santa suit. 20 years later, Cindy returns to town with one goal -- trapping and killing The Mean One.

Director: Steven LaMorte
Producer: Steven LaMorte, Amy Schumacher, Martine Melloul
Screenwriter: Finn Kobler, Flip Kobler, Steven LaMorte
Distributor: Sleight of Hand Productions
Production Co: Amy Rose Productions, Scatena & Rosner Films, Sleight of Hand Productions, Kali Pictures
Genre: Holiday, Horror, Comedy, Action
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 8, 2022, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 3, 2023
Box Office (Gross USA): $550.3K
Runtime: 1h 33m

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