Are you tired of the countless cheesy Hallmark-esque Christmas movies on your TV? Do you want your holiday cheer to have a little more bite this year? Well, than Michael Doherty’s latest holiday-horror flick, Krampus is for you!
The film centers on two parts of the same dysfunctional family who try to come together and have a nice Christmas. One side of the family–which is led by Park & Rec’s Adam Scott and Toni Collette, appears to be an average middle class family who are trying to get everybody together for the holidays despite the fact that they are too miserable and perfection-obsessed to really enjoy anything. The other side of the family–the white trash, “Uncle Eddie” side is led by funnyman, David Koechner (the cowboy sports reporter from Anchorman). After a tense family dinner and the usual “Santa Claus doesn’t exist” conversion takes place, the son of Scott and Collette, Max, who is played by Emjay Athony, loses his belief in miracles; and subsequently, summons the evil Austrian ghoul, Krampus. From then on, the film stops being your average holiday family film and the spooky kookiness ensues. Though it lacks major gore and other horror tropes, Krampus is the perfect mix of black humor, sentimentality, and chills.
If the plot and the thrills won’t entice you to see this film, you should go to just enjoy the creative stylization and the special effects. Krampus and his devilish helpers (elves and homicidal gingerbread men), which I personally think look like the hybrid offspring of Tim Burton and Jim Henson, are perfectly monstrous. In fact, it is the presence of these ghouls that really make the film fit within the horror category.
The film is by far not your average Christmas movie, yet it is based off an Austrian legend that goes hand-in-hand with the yuletide season. Though it might not be suitable for most little kids, I personally feel that Krampus is a great holiday film that horror-loving fans will appreciate and maybe make into an annual viewing tradition along with Santa’s Slay and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. I know I will!
