Krampus

Released:  December 4^th, 2015

Rated:  PG-13

Distributor:  Universal Pictures

Starring:  Adam Scott, Toni Collette, David Koechner, Allison Tolman, Conchata Ferrel, Emjay Anthony

Directed by:  Michael Dougherty

Written by:  Todd Casey, Michael Dougherty, Zach Shields

Personal Bias Alert:  was lukewarm on Dougherty’s Trick r’ Treat, likes genre blending

7.3 of 10

            Christmas horror movies have been made before, but they’re generally intended for B-movie or hard genre fanatics.  Ask the average moviegoer to name a few and you’ll likely get:  “Gremlins!  And, uh…”  The conversation won’t last long, because gleeful gore and Christmas tidings just don’t seem to go together.  It’s a balance that Krampus struggles to get right, but the effort, and Universal’s confident marketing push, is a risk to be admired.

            Director/co-writer Michael Dougherty is mining a very similar well here as his previous film, Trick r’ Treat.  Both are about an impish creature punishing those who don’t take the holidays seriously.  Perhaps they’re part of a loose series, or perhaps Dougherty just wants us to keep our holidays more reverent.  Christmas, it turns out, already had a creepy monster in its lore, which should come as no surprise considering how old and mixed its traditions are.   The character of Krampus is described in a nifty story within a story as “the shadow of Santa”, bringing carnage to those who lose the holiday spirit.  He’s inadvertently summoned by the central family’s youngest son, Max (Emjay Anthony), after becoming disillusioned by his family’s bickering.  Holiday-themed horror ensues, but not without a lot of winks at the audience, because the whole thing is knowingly a bit ridiculous.

            How much leeway that gives the film is going to vary for everyone, and its charm relies on having lots of room to slip up.  The film is, in many ways, a mess.  Its characters are obnoxious stereotypes, its sentimentality seems tacked on, and it settles for scares instead of terror.  There’s also a nasty anti-middle America streak that’s hard to get over (I know lots of nice people who like hot dogs and mac n’ cheese), and yet it overcomes all of this because it’s so darn gleeful.  The love that seeps through this film for oddball horror and kitschy bad guys is effervescent, and the tone weirdly fits with Christmas’s garish traditions.  It’s genuinely fun to watch this family get terrorized, and even though you don’t want to see them die, you do want to see what craziness gets thrown at them next.

            Between this and the anthology-based Trick r’ Treat, Dougherty proves to have a varied and imaginative take on his monsters.  Both films send all sorts of creepy-crawlies after their victims, and while they’re based on horror staples like clowns, children, and ancient demons, there’s always a twist to take things up a notch.  Either due to budget constraints or personal taste, Dougherty relies mostly on practical effects, working with Weta Workshop to create some very memorable monsters that any Planet Hollywood should proudly display.  Krampus himself is introduced in a rather memorable scene, and even if he never proves to be as terrifying as his introduction implies, he’s still a noteworthy baddie in the annals of PG-13 horror.

            Krampus, for all its odd mixing, never does anything truly original.  It holds very tight to clichés, but the gleeful way it goes about its story will earn it many laughs and cheers.  The ending is a letdown, that’s all I’ll say, but it’s a big one considering how assured it had been up until that point.  Still, there are so many worth-while moments that its flaws become overwhelmed, leaving audiences with an appetite for more holiday carnage should Dougherty choose to continue his series.

Other Notes:

Ø  It’s not lost on me how difficult it must’ve been for the entire cast to hit the same note tone-wise.  Kudos all around.

Ø  Without spoiling it, there’s a plot point early on that I was terrified that they would renege on.  Thankfully, they don’t.

Ø  The score in this film is inventive and near-perfect.

Ø  And so the legend of ‘the noodle incident’ is expanded.