And what would you do
If you met a Jibboo?
If you met a Jibboo?
- The Slasher Smile the Grinch gives at the title card, perfectly setting the mood.
- Mount Crumpit is shown to vastly dwarf Whoville, and the way evil comes down from the mountain once a year every Halloween night bears uncomfortable parallels to Chernabog himself, making the threat the Grinch represents even scarier.
- When the citizens of Whoville realize the Sour-Sweet Wind has returned, they spend a precious few seconds trying to determine if it's true, but the narrator says they know damn well what's coming. On cue, every living thing in Whoville, from the people to the animals, runs for cover and bolts their doors for their own safety. Whatever the Grinch is planning, an entire town feels the need to lock themselves inside for an entire night and not even go near the windows.
- The Grinch running over an apparently sentient flower with his wagon, and then running it over again when it weakly tries to get up.
- The Max from "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" had nothing but love for his master and the abuse inflicted on him was played for laughs; in this case (if it's the same Max) we see the heavy toll it has taken on his mind. What was played for Black Comedy in the book is now pure psychological torture played completely straight.
- As the special goes on, there are several long, dreary shots of the Paraphernalia Wagon as it's pulled by Max. Something is deeply wrong with this thing, and the music is surprisingly dark as it lets us take it in. At one point, something even tries to escape from the wagon, only for the Grinch to swat it back inside.
- When the Grinch finally agrees to scare Euchariah, the music turns deadly suspenseful as the audience realizes that the sequence the whole special has been building towards is finally upon them. Even then, time passes ever so slowly just to up the suspense ever so much more before the horrors finally begin. Just Euchariah walking up to get his scare is perhaps just as terrifying as the horrors inside the wagon itself.
- It goes without saying that the climactic Paraphernalia Wagon sequence is pure concentrated Surreal Horror. Especially the "Spooks' Song" sequence. The monsters would be mild to moderately creepy on their own, but coupled with the music, they're suddenly the scariest effing things ever. And recall that the Grinch was going to unleash that on all of Whoville. For no other reason than the fact that the wind is making him grumpy.
- The first thing that emerges when all hell breaks loose is a monstrous green cloud with blood red eyes that glares at Euchariah as he's presumably cast into the netherworld of the wagon at last.
- The voices add to the creepiness, especially the raspy croaks of the Bird People and the deep one of the blobby monster that begin the song.
- The second to last part of the ending. Sure, Euchariah managed to stop the Grinch from going to Whoville to terrorize the Whos, but the Grinch points out to the audience that "that wind will be coming back someday. I'll be coming back someday," followed by an Evil Laugh. The sinister music accompanying this scene hardly helps.
- Fortunately, if you assume this is a prequel, his coming back is a good thing in the long run.
- The ambiguity when it comes to exactly how long Euchariah is trapped in the wagon. It's enough for the wind to die down, and the numerous cuts seem to suggest he spent quite a while in there. Badass Bookworm indeed.
