Krampus (2015)
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Every winter season we’re treated to Christmas themed horror movies that normally revolve around a killer dressed up as Santa, or some other snowy slasher. A trend seems to have been coming up in recent years with the Santa Claus story returning to its traditional Eastern and Northern European roots. Movies like Rare Exports and numerous SyFy/direct to video killer Krampus movies exist but this one is the king of the hill. Krampus is Michael Dougherty’s follow up to Trick R Treat. He succeeded in making a near perfect Halloween movie but does this one match up for Christmas?
The plot is simple. Krampus tells the story of a typical American family that is having a rough time during the Holiday season. The son gets into fights over Santa existing. The daughter wants to spend Christmas with her boyfriend. The parents are stuck dealing with annoying relatives. Pretty much everyone is having a shitty holiday and their shitty attitudes bring about old Mr. Krampus to wreak havoc.
Emjay Anthony does a great job as the main child. It’s no surprise based on his performance in Chef. Adam Scott is fantastic. I’m a huge fan of him in Parks and Rec and his sarcastic personality matches perfectly with this movie’s tone. David Koechner surprisingly toned down from his wild antics you’d expect from Anchorman or The Office. He once again plays a loud-mouthed gun toting conservative but he shows some depth and even some character growth which is nice to see for such a type cast actor.
The minions were well designed though I think small ones like the gingerbread men would have benefited from practical effects. The split faced monster and teddy bear were cool looking but that angel was one of the creepiest monster designs ever. That one in particular stayed with me. I love how each of the monsters was some demon or something under a mask. Even Krampus himself, we never get a good look at his face since he’s under a creepy Santa mask. The whole design of Krampus is amazing and really matched the drawings I’ve seen from various other films and books.
This is a fun movie that delivers a few scares and some good practical effects. While it doesn’t match the greatness of Trick r’ Treat, Krampus is still a worthy entry in the holiday horror subgenre and I can see it becoming a Christmas staple for horror fans in the future.