While The Mean One may have Terrifier 2 star David Howard Thornton leading its cast, there is almost no way the movie can replicate the slasher sequel’s outsized success. Terrifier was not a major hit when the dark horror arrived in 2016. Director Damian Leone’s throwback to the gory grindhouse slashers of the early 80s had its fair share of champions, but Terrifier didn’t set the box office alight or blow away mainstream critics.
However, Terrifier 2 was a different story. Earning over $11 million on a budget of only $250,000, Terrifier 2 was praised by Stephen King himself and almost universally lauded as a major step up from the 2016 original. Star David Howard Thornton’s appropriately terrifying turn as Art the Clown, won Terrifier 2 a lot of its praise, so it might seem reasonable to assume that the actor’s next horror movie would be guaranteed to repeat this feat. However, The Mean One, a slasher retelling of How The Grinch Stole Christmas, is unlikely to be a crossover success in the vein of Terrifier 2.
Why Terrifier 2 Was Such A Huge Hit
Terrifier 2’s outsized success surprised many industry commentators, but the sequel had a lot going for it. Leone’s original movie quietly built up a reputation as a tour de force since its 2016 release, and Terrifier’s gory kills ensured that its slack pacing and thin storytelling were easy to ignore for viewers who tuned in expecting shock value and little else. Meanwhile, the absence of gory, gross-out horror from mainstream multiplexes left a space for Terrifier 2 to fill (a factor that could also account for the incredible performance of 2022’s other blackly comic gross-out horror hit Barbarian).
The Mean One Won’t Be A Horror Blockbuster
While The Mean One could exceed expectations upon its December 9 release, it is unlikely that the horror spin on How The Grinch Stole Christmas will manage to repeat Terrifier 2’s wildly successful theatrical run. For one thing, from Art the Clown to his creepy accomplice, The Pale Little Girl, Terrifier 2 is genuinely unsettling as well as gross and darkly comic. In contrast, The Mean One is much more broadly comedic and less interested in legitimately creepy horror elements judging by its recently released trailer. Another major factor is the release dates of the two movies, specifically the early October release of Terrifier 2.
This release date allowed the indie horror to build a word-of-mouth reputation shortly before Halloween weekend, resulting in incredible profits by early November. In contrast, The Mean One arrives on December 9, when viewers are not typically seeking out scary fare. While Krampus fared relatively well in 2015, that movie wasn’t attempting to rebrand a beloved icon of children’s literature as a horror villain. Jim Carrey and Benedict Cumberbatch’s lovable Grinches could sap The Mean One of its potential critical and commercial success as viewers would rather seek out an old favorite than take a chance on a gory, edgy retelling of the Christmas classic from the star of Terrifier 2.