Krampus (2015) | Film Review

Jingle Bells, We’re Going To Hell…

This one is going up a bit late, but it is still in plenty of time for the holidays. Right? Ahh, the holidays. Tis the season for family fun, joy, and camaraderie. This is generally when your family or friends gather around and catch up with some festive films guaranteed to bring you all closer together in warmth and laughter.

Hey, that’s great, Rudolph, but what about the rest of us?!

I like a little balance in my diet, which means every Christmas season needs a little naughty to balance out all of those niceties. Not all of us want to pretend the ugly of the world has faded away for a random 25 day stretch in December. I made my list, I checked it thrice, and “Krampus” finally arrived for my Christmas fright.

Instead of asking ‘What the hell is Krampus?’, you should ask if Krampus will lead you to hell. According to Austrian folklore, this cloven-hooved demon is the anti-St. Nick, established as a deterrent from children getting a little too naughty throughout the year, because if you are…Krampus arrives to frighten and terrorize those little misfits, not drop off Nintendos. So when Max (Emjay Anthony) – an angry young man with a Hummer-sized chip on his shoulder for no apparent reason other than kids suck – storms off in the middle of the family Christmas dinner to bitterly tear up his letter to Santa and viciously toss the pieces out of his bedroom window in a movie called “Krampus” – well, you know the snow’s about to hit the fan.

Max, of course, did not intend to summon a hideously terrifying Christmas demon and his army of minions to rein hell and wrath upon his family, yet that is exactly what he has done. Krampus’ arrival is masked by a blinding snowstorm, and one-by-one, Krampus’ herd begins to pick Max’s family off. Is there any force able to stop the reckoning Max has unleashed?

“Krampus” is a PG-13 horror film with comedic elements centered around a Christmas theme. Nothing about this movie deserves to work, and in lesser hands it wouldn’t. Instead of a first-timer, director Michael Dougherty (who helmed the criminally underrated “Trick ‘r Treat”) has taken the reigns and guides this sleigh with determined assuredness. The humor is natural and intelligent, as opposed to forced or exaggerated. Our characters are not stopping mid-chase to quip poetically as Krampus gains ground, they are running for their very lives. The consistent tone is a huge accomplishment in a film like this, as one misstep and you’ve lost your audience completely.

The choice to focus primarily on practical effects – versus the overused CG of today – leaves us with bittersweet memories of films like “Gremlins” and “Arachnophobia”, where the humor was just as constant as the scares. If you loved those movies, this will feel as cozy as Grandma’s hot cocoa on Christmas morning. From destructive toys to elusively evil elves to Krampus himself – the design and execution of this horror holiday is exactly enough to leave your stockings filled with nightmares.

Toss in a talented cast stacked with character actors (Adam Scott, Toni Collette, David Koechner, and Krista Stadler for starters), and you have one of the tastiest treats of the season. The world needs films like “Elf”, “A Christmas Story”, and “Christmas Vacation” to remind us what Christmas is all about. While the horror lover in some of us need to witness a small child eaten whole by a razor-toothed Jack-in-the-Box.

Give me the naughty over the nice, “Krampus” is everything I wanted this Christmas.

Aaron Peterson
The Hollywood Outsider