Krampus (2015) Review

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...in July! I was hyped when I saw the trailer but never got the chance to see this when it came out in theaters. My wife and I saw it at redbox and we settled in for some good ol' fashioned scary fun. For anyone who doesn't know the story of Krampus, it's pretty simple: an evil goat-like anthropomorphic creature punishes the naughty children around Christmas time, an evil St. Nicholas if you will. The popularity around Krampus has been growing over the past few years in the U.S., so Universal took it upon themselves to cash in on it. Want to see how the Europeans celebrate Krampus in his homeland of Austria? Look up the Krampusnecht Festival...nightmare fuel. This film was directed by Michael Dougherty, whose only other directing credit is Trick 'r Treat, another lovely over-the-top horror that you should see if you haven't already. His writing credits include X2, Superman Returns, and X-Men: Apocalypse. This type of movie usually attracts B actors, so having Adam Scott and Toni Collette helped legitimize it.

The story is about Max, a young boy who just wants Christmas to be the way it used to be, but all of the people around him don't seem to understand the true meanings of the holiday; love, family, giving, and sacrifice. After his mother's dysfunctional family comes to visit, his cousins keep teasing and bullying him until he screams that he hates Christmas and all of them. He then turns his back on the cheerful holiday and loses the Christmas spirit. As the hours pass, creepy things start to happen as the family slowly realizes that the dark shadow of St. Nicholas and his minions has come for them.

I loved loved LOVED the practical effects and puppetry that went into this film. I found out after the viewing that it was done by WETA Workshop, the Academy Award winning effects company behind The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Mad Max: Fury Road, Elysium, Avatar, and countless others. The set design and creatures look amazing and honestly, are the highlight of the film. My second favorite technical aspect of the film was the sound design. Holy cow! I'm very lucky to have watched this with surround sound, you'd be doing a disservice to yourself if you don't. There has been some straight-to-DVD Krampus movies before, but nothing with this budget or artistry. The theme of anti-capitalism and what Christmas has become is only briefly focused on in the beginning, showing a comedic slow-motion montage of Black Friday and a Nativity kids play. I wouldn't quite call this film a horror. And while there are a lot of horror elements, it's more of a black comedy. I've always said that a film should focus on one genre and lightly sprinkle in other genres where necessary. Like how Shaun of the Dead is a comedy with horror elements, and Cabin in the Woods is a horror with comedic elements. So this would film would fall under the latter, kind of. The humor really derives from the situations and creative monsters, like killer gingerbread men. One other thing I loved about the film was how it avoided all of the modern-day horror movie clichés that I hate with a passion, primarily pointless jump scares. The tension builds and builds until we have a satisfying payoff.

I didn't like that not all, but most of the characters and their jokes were one-dimensional stereotypes. It could be because the filmmakers were trying to lightly parody conventional 80's horror monster movies, or it could just be that they didn't care. I think this was intentional, a kind of nod to the audience that they knew what they were making, they knew their audience, and had fun with it. The character stereotypes and even the story is a mixture of Home Alone and Christmas Vacation. There are also jokes that are lightly set up or are lazily put together for cheap yucks that I and my wife didn't laugh at. Lines like, "I told you we should have gone to my brother's house!" Or cheap emotional lines like "Shepherd's gotta protect his flock." Another complaint I have is the slow first act. The first act's script isn't clever enough to make us wait so long, so I just found myself waiting for it get good. But when things do start getting good, it's very suspenseful, funny, and scary!

The film reminded me of a modern day Gremlins. A part of that might be attributed to the PG-13 rating and the editor's quick cuts to avoid shots or gore considered too scary, and a lot of the creatures are slightly hidden by shadows. When the monster himself is finally revealed, it's awesomely terrifying, truly something of nightmares. Kudos to WETA for the incredible creature design. The last few scenes had me a bit worried it would end completely clichéd, but the writer cleverly tricks us and delivers (at least in my opinion) something satisfying that will stay with you when the credits role. And speaking of the credits, I loved that they turned carol of the bells into a Krampus-themed tune that warns the listener of the demon.

I would recommend this movie to families with kids who are mature enough to handle very scary images, even with the inclusion of cartoony CGI gingerbread men. People like myself who love amazing horror creature effects and amazing sound design will get a lot out of it, so for me it's an "own it". Those of you looking for the next great horror classic might be a little disappointed, but hopefully you can enjoy it for what it is, a nod to the classic monster movies of the 80's and 90's.