Dr. Seuss' Halloween is Grinch Night (1977)
Although the special itself came out eleven years later. It is technically a prequel to the Christmas special. Sadly, Boris Karloff who originally voiced the character as well as the original narrator passed away in 1969.
Obviously, this one is focus on Halloween. Keep in mind, The Simpsons made Thanksgiving of Horror. Everyone knew about Treehouse of Horror episodes. Sometimes, you don't change the holiday within that concept. It just does not work, the actual singing is notably not comparable to the Christmas special. Another notable thing is unlike the Christmas special, this one wasn't based on a book.
Even how they went about telling the story is lackluster. Not even the narrator helps much either. The animation quality isn't even as impressive in comparison too. There isn't much positives I can say about this Halloween special. For example, it's good seeing the Grinch terrorizing again. Although, they quickly took most of the fun out of it here.
The Whos knows Halloween is Grinch Night. Where he comes to Whoville to terrorize people on Halloween. For him, there's no treats just tricks for everybody. The special itself is slightly longer than the Christmas special. It felt justified in the Christmas special's case because it worked perfectly. Sadly, not so much here you quickly felt like what's going on vibe.
You just can't seem to connect to it like the Christmas special. Now I wouldn't be comparing the Christmas special so much if it wasn't among the best Christmas specials ever made. Unfortunately, this is quickly forgotten among Halloween specials. Trust me, there's plenty of better Halloween specials as well as Halloween episodes on TV than this.
A Miser Brothers' Christmas, a spin off of the Christmas special. The Year Without a Santa Claus that came many years later kicked this special's ass too. At least, I saw what they attempted to do there. People still talk about the Miser brothers from the Christmas special. It made perfect sense to make a follow up more directly focused on them.
Sadly, Dr. Seuss' Halloween is Grinch Night came out as a cheap cash in to a Christmas special. Even Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer's follow up. Rudolph's Shiny New Year out done that a year earlier. Despite a weird plot for a Christmas/New Years special. The Nightmare Before Christmas nailed doing both Halloween & Christmas, why can't the Grinch?
Later on, this kid upsets the Grinch. He gets the full terror treatment. The way they chosen to display it is like so many Halloween specials. The plot is the Grinch wants to scare people. But most attempts goes towards one kid. Even more than this weird creature, the Grinch previously was going after. I am not going to hide it, this isn't how I would've done an Halloween Grinch special far from that.
I am not saying this is bottom of the barrel. It just a little close to reaching the floor there. I will say this, yes it fails in every possible way. However to me, it's still better than Frosty Returns. Keep in mind that had actors like John Goodman & Brian Doyle-Murray too. Honestly, you really aren't missing much by not watching it.
If you're a Grinch fan at least watch it once. Then don't consider watching it again. I can tell you a second watch isn't worth the punishment. I will say this, it barely airs on television over the years. There's plenty of better stuff to watch with the character too. In all honestly, it felt like they wanted to cash in with the character on another holiday but failed so bad.
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