Halloween Is Grinch Night
"Halloween is Grinch Night" is an animated television Halloween Special and a sequel (or prequel, as it's not too clear on that point) to How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It was co-produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and Dr. Seuss and won the 1977 Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program. It premiered on CBS October 29, 1977.
The story takes place in and around Whoville, a town that The Grinch periodically terrorizes on a night known as "Grinch Night," which commences when a "Sour-Sweet Wind" blows and sets off a variety of animal calls that annoys the Grinch into terrorizing the Whos. As the story opens, the Sour-Sweet Wind is just beginning to blow when Ukariah, a young bespectacled Who (a resident of Whoville) with astigmatism, goes outdoors to use the outhouse (referred to as "the euphemism" in the story), and is swept away by the wind.
On the road he encounters the Grinch, along with the Grinch's dog Max, who is in the process of bringing a large wagon -- called the "Paraphernalia Wagon" -- down to Whoville. Ukariah decides to keep the Grinch from reaching Whoville by stalling him. On the first two occasions the Grinch contemptuously dismisses him by saying that Ukariah "isn't worth a first-class Grinching," but after Ukariah (inadvertently) stalls him a third time, the Grinch decides that he's had enough of the young Who and invites him to take a closer look at the Paraphernalia Wagon. When Ukariah does so, the Grinch opens up the wagon and a cloud of green smoke with Grinch-like eyes emerges and ensnares him.
Inside the wagon Ukariah is confronted by surreal imagery, numerous monsters ("members of the Un-Human Race," according to the background lyrics) and the Grinch's mocking voice. Though he is frightened, Ukariah's courage keeps him on his toes long enough for the Sour-Sweet Wind to die down, thus forcing the Grinch to pack up and retire to his cave; the dog Max, who had been abused and overworked by the Grinch, goes home with Ukariah. Back in Whoville, the residents celebrate Ukariah's courage in preventing the Grinch releasing the Paraphernalia Wagon's full horrors on the town, and up in the mountains the Grinch, who is hauling the wagon home himself, ominously notes that one day soon the Sour-Sweet Wind will blow once more, and it will be Grinch Night all over again.
- Badass Bookworm: Ukariah. He can define the term of an astigmatism, and somehow stand up to the Grinch and survive all of the horrors in the paraphernalia wagon.
- Big Friendly Dog: Max fits this role in the end; on his hind legs he's as tall as Ukariah, and after being freed by the Grinch he runs down the hill after Ukariah and the next shot we see is him happily slurping Ukariah's face.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: The Grinch's lift clear off his face and fly around like giant bats. He's rather proud of them.
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Grinch: It's a wonderful night for eyebrows. |
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- Disney Acid Sequence: Everything that happens after the Grinch opens his trap-door... well... to say none of it makes sense is an understatement.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The Grinch is annoyed at the various animal caterwauls -- something the Whos have zero control over -- so he takes it upon himself to go terrorize them for it. Talk about petty...
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Max earning his freedom and going back to Whoville with Ukariah, after the former having been one of the most extreme woobies ever, and the latter having had the euphemism scared out of him.
- Evil Laugh: This is the last thing the Grinch leaves us with.
- Grief Song: Max's sorrowful ballad about how he lost his freedom when he was a puppy.
- Here We Go Again: Despite Ukariah's attempts to stop the Grinch, it will happen again when the next Sweet-Sour Wind blows through.
- Hey, It's That Voice!: Hans Conreid shows up to deliver arguably the scariest voicing of the Grinch. He also provides the much cheerier narration, which may come as a shock to viewers that have been creeped out by his Grinch voice for the last 30 minutes.
- Ironic Echo: Ukariah mentions how situations looked much better without his glasses on. The person he's addressing will tell Ukariah to put the glasses back on and face the facts. The first time he does it, it's to his grandfather. The second time, Ukariah is speaking this to the Grinch!
- Last of His Kind: "The Woozoo should at least have immunity! He's the only one left in our community!"
- Mind Rape: The Grinch does this to Ukariah using his paraphernalia wagon during the movie's climax.
- Mind Screw: Again, what the Grinch does to Ukariah (and the viewers). Or tries to do, anyway.
- Mondegreen: "Grinch is gonna get ya, yes indeedy fa la la, ya!", where "yes indeedy" could get mistaken for gibberish.
- The Musical: The special has no fewer than seven vocal tunes, some with several measures, and very few instances of repeating. Impressive, given its half-hour running time.
- Negative Continuity: If this is a sequel to the Christmas one, then the Grinch went back to being evil. If it's a prequel, then Max went back to serving the Grinch.
- The special "The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat" seems to suggest that the Grinch goes back to being evil on a regular basis.
- It also shows that that Grinch is a member of an entire species, most of whom are profoundly unpleasant people. So they could be different Grinches, each called "the" Grinch because there are no other Grinches in the area.
- It could be that the "Max" we see in the Christmas special is a different, albeit similar looking, dog which the Grinch obtained and also named Max after the first one left him. The Grinch seems pretty set in his ways, so why try another breed or go through the trouble of remembering a new name?
- No One Gets Left Behind: Animals all shack up in safety when the Sour-Sweet Wind starts blowing. A female Who even goes back for her son's doll.
- Non-Indicative Name: Halloween is never even brought up, nor does any character allude to it outside the title.
- Which is why re-releases have sometimes renamed it "It's Grinch Night"
- Number of the Beast: "I wouldn’t go out on a night like this...for sixty-six million six hundred thousand dollars and an extra sixty-six cents!"
- Reality Warper: The Grinch has some magic power as he was able to shrink and enlarge himself in his Villain Song.
- Rhymes on a Dime: It's a Dr. Seuss special, after all.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: The Wuzzy Woozoo, whom the Grinch torments along the trip down his mountain.
- Rule of Three: It took Ukariah three attempts to stall the Grinch before he's able to go into the Paraphernalia Wagon.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: All those ghouls and spirits inside the Paraphernalia Wagon that were going to be unleashed in Whoville.
- Shout-Out: At one point in the infamous Mind Rape sequence, Ukariah meets the Jibboo from the Dr. Seuss book "Oh, the Things You Can Think".
- Slasher Smile: The Grinch makes one during the title sequence.
- Surreal Horror: The Paraphernalia Wagon scene. If you need elaboration, see Mind Rape above.
- Unusual Euphemism: The outhouse is literally called "the euphemism". Toilets were still too taboo to be seen on TV, and "euphemism" really sounds like a made-up Seuss word if you don't know what it means.
- It's extra funny if you do know what it means.
- Villain Song: "Grinch Night Ball".
- We Will Meet Again: "That wind will be coming back someday. I'll be coming back someday."
- You Shall Not Pass: Ukariah's delaying of the Wagon. And as Ukariah states:
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Ukariah: "Do your worst! Bring on your spooks! Shoot the works! I will not flinch!" |
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