Staten Island filmmaker’s horror film released. It’s scary. It’s thrilling. It’s funny. It’s a Christmas movie!

"The Mean One"

A character in a scene from "The Mean One." (Courtesy/Christopher Sheffield)Staten Island Advance

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Filmmaker Steven LaMorte, an award-winning director and producer of music videos, web content, feature films, and virtual reality experiences, has directed his latest Christmas horror film — just in time for the holiday season.

“The Mean One” is making its debut in theaters all across the country, according to the Monsignor Farrell High School grad.

LaMorte says the movie, which finds “Terrifer 2″ villain David Howard Thornton playing a character that the filmmaker describes as having a “Grinch-y vibe,” says his crew shot the film over two and a half weeks in California on a shoestring budget back in May, and they raced to complete the project in time for Christmas.

The film makes its debut this week, less than a year after the process began, a dream come true for LaMorte.

“Our goal was to make a fun independent film that would make people laugh by showing characters you know in a way you’ve never seen them before,” he added. “And I hope people will enjoy getting together and having a fun night at the movies with ‘The Mean One.’”

“The Mean One” was written by Flip and Finn Kobler and co-stars Chase Mullins, John Bigham, Erik Baker, and Amy Schumacher.

Released by Atlas Film Distribution, the film is a co-production between A Sleight of Hand Productions, Amy Rose Productions, and Kali Pictures, and produced by Schumacher, LaMorte, and Martine Melloul. Executive Producers are Jordan Rosner, Gato Scatena, and Zach Stampone.

"The Mean One"

A scene from "The Mean One." (Courtesy/Christopher Sheffield)Staten Island Advance

“The project started as an idea I’ve had for the past few years,” added the filmmaker. “What if we could take an iconic Christmas story and character and make a parody that is scary and thrilling but also funny? I love thrilling genre films and I really wanted to make a movie that was an entertaining and loving homage to characters and a story I’ve always been fond of.”

He explained every year he told himself, he was going to shoot some version of the project and the schedule never lined up.

Then last year around December he had a few shoots canceled and had already booked the crew so he thought, “Let’s finally make my mean one short film. It turned into a fake trailer, and I showed it to some friends and industry colleagues — and they all had the same question. Where is the movie?”

"The Mean One"

"The Mean One" debuts in theaters this week across the country. (Courtesy/Christopher Sheffield)Staten Island Advance

The movie opens this weekend and playing all over the tri-state area including Regal Union Square, Sheepshead Bay, Times Square and lots of theaters in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

For tickets and showtimes visit https://www.fandango.com/the-mean-one-2022-230452/movie-overview?date=2022-12-08


      

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