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NIGHT CALL THE MOVIE II MOVIE
In theory, this could retroactively make his redemption in the original movie better, but it doesn’t. They don’t come right out and say it, but you get the sense that if the Grinch wanted to start killing the residents of Whoville, they’d have no choice but to take it because it’s the Grinch’s special night and he has dark, murderous power over the Whos. Grinch Night is like a Seuss version of The Purge except instead of everyone getting to commit whatever crimes they’d like for one magical evening only the Grinch gets to do crimes but he has total freedom to do so. Really! We open in a happy Whoville whose contentment is shattered by a Sour-Sweet wind that announces the imminent arrival of the Grinch on his ultimate night of devastation and destruction, Grinch Night. It’s largely devoid of Halloween signifiers beyond a vaguely autumnal color scheme. The mind-boggling miscalculations begin with making a Halloween special that seemingly has nothing to do with Halloween.
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It’s also too dark and intense for adults as well. To be clear, Halloween is Grinch Night isn’t just too dark and intense for children.
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Without that sweetness and holiday cheer, Halloween is Grinch Night is oppressively dark and disturbing. It thrived on the juxtaposition of Christmas wonder and innocence and glowering green horror. How the Grinch Stole Christmas? is one of the great fish-out-of-water tales. Grinch.” The legendary Chuck Jones was replaced in the director’s chair by the more affordable Gerard Baldwin and the budget seems to have plummeted despite the extraordinary success of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.īut the underwhelming follow-up’s biggest problems are tonal and conceptual. Halloween is Grinch Night crams nine songs into a padded half-hour that collectively aren’t a tenth as catchy as “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Seuss himself once again wrote the teleplay and lyrics but Sesame Street veteran Joe Raposo wrote songs that favor a quantity over quality approach. This Grinch is edgier and not exactly in a good way.ĭr.
NIGHT CALL THE MOVIE II SERIAL
While Karloff imbued the Grinch with the soul of a black-and-white Universal monster, Conreid gives the Grinch a kind of evil closer to a serial killer. In 1977 Boris Karloff was too dead to return as the narrator and the Grinch so he was replaced by Hans Conreid who was famous(ish) for playing the voice of Captain Hook in the 1953 Peter Pan.
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Obviously, some Grinch-y spoilers from 1977 are ahead.
NIGHT CALL THE MOVIE II FREE
After you’re done reading this, feel free to make your own call as to whether or not you’ll watch it. Because there’s a very high chance you’ve never seen this movie, here’s what it’s actually about. That said, Halloween Is Grinch Night is not without its kitschy charms. It’s a surprising mostly forgotten Halloween non-classic, that nearly destroyed the great reputation of the original. Seuss and The Grinch returned for the weirdly obscure, oddly brutal 1977 prequel Halloween Is Grinch Night. Eleven years after the triumph of 1966’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Dr.
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