Krampus: A Darker Christmas Carol

KRAMPUS

DIRECTED BY: Michael Dougherty

STARRING: Adam Scott, Toni Collette, ,David Koechner, Allison Tolman, Conchata Ferrell, Emjay Anthony, Stefania LaVie Owen, Krista Stadler

GENRE: Christmas, Comedy, Horror

YEAR: 2015

COUNTRY: United States

When his dysfunctional family clashes over the holidays, young Max (Emjay Anthony) is disillusioned and turns his back on Christmas. Little does he know, this lack of festive spirit has unleashed the wrath of Krampus: a demonic force of ancient evil intent on punishing non-believers. All hell breaks loose as beloved holiday icons take on a monstrous life of their own, laying siege to the fractured family’s home and forcing them to fight for each other if they hope to survive.

From AV Club:

“From the always reliable Scott and Collette to Fargo’s Allison Tolman, the cast is almost uniformly overqualified; even David Koechner, adding another gun-toting jackass to his résumé, can’t resist investing his character with a little humanity. Of course, the real stars of the show are the toy-box terrors. Krampus boasts some truly terrific practical creature effects, including that aforementioned bozo worm, a razor-toothed teddy, and the titular monstrosity himself. Trouble is, these first-rate fiends aren’t just sparingly employed, but also frequently obscured by poor lighting, slapdash camerawork, and frenetic editing; it’s hard to say, additionally, if scenes set outside, against the white blanket of a blizzard, are intentionally or accidentally difficult to parse. It’s all rather clumsily staged—a real handicap for horror, and a surprise coming from director-cowriter Michael Dougherty, who achieved higher quality on a lower budget with his anthology film Trick ’R Treat.

Juggling genres is no easy feat, especially when they’re as disparate as monster movie and holiday dramedy. It takes a spark of mad, macabre genius to make that mix work. Joe Dante had it. So, too, did Tim Burton, back when he was pitting a different clan of bickering housemates against unholy forces and putting his own spooky spin on Christmas festivities. Krampus has some stray moments of wicked inspiration, including an animated flashback that feels like it was yanked from a more serious and elegant picture.”

PROS:

• Overqualified cast.
• Decent juggling of genres.

CONS:

• Supporting cast performance.
• Not much horror.
• Krampus depiction

SCORE: 5.5 / 10

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