Movie Review: Krampus (2015)

Krampus (2015)

Legendary Pictures, Zam Pictures, Universal Pictures, USA, 2015.

Enough for now for the peaceful Christmas movies. Bring on Krampus!

A jaded family prepares for Christmas. They barely survived the Christmas-rush, but then tiresome relatives come to visit. Survival-nut Howard (David Koechner), bossy Linda (Allison Tolman), their tomboy daughters and always grumpy Aunt Dorothy (Conchata Ferrell) get into mother Sarah's (Toni Collette) nerves. Redneck Howard scorns wimpy father Tom (Adam Scott). Likewise fed up is little Max (Emjay Anthony). After his cousins ruin his letter to Santa, he rips the letter. Blizzard surrounds the house and people start to die or vanish. 

Max

Sarah and Tom

Aunt Dorothy and Linda

German-born Grandma Omi (Krista Stadler) knows that when the spirit of Christmas is lost, Christmas demon  Krampus comes to punish everyone. Krampus (Luke Hawker) and his evil elves bring killer toys to naughty children. The strifing families try to fight back but it is not so easy against a supernatural foe.

Howard

Elves

Omi and Krampus

Horror-comedy starts quite dark and has "Gremlins"-style creepy fun, it is bit darker though but avoids the gore as the age rating in the USA was PG-13. The funniest dialogue comes from always drinking Aunt Dorothy. The story looks like the heir of Joe Dante's horror comedies and Grandma Omi's flashback is presented with Burtonesque animation.  Evil gingerbread men, teddy bears and Jack-in-the-box attack the unlucky folks. Pleasant amount of the monster effects are made using traditional masks or puppets, with occasional use of CGI. As an alternative Christmas movie it is not a long shot from Santa Claus-horror in "Rare Exports (2010)."

Rating: Good

Starring: Emjay Anthony, Adam Scott, Toni Collette, Stefania LaVie Owen, Krista Stadler, Conchata Ferrell, Allison Tolman, David Koechner, Maverick Flack, Queenie Samuel, Lolo Owen, Sage Hunefeld, Leith Towers, Curtis Vowell, Luke Hawker, Seth Green, Breehn Burns, Justin Roiland, Brett Beattie, Mark Atkin, Amy Brighton, Trevor Bau, Ravi Narayan, Felicity Hamill, Sophie Gannon, Kelly Lily Marie, Clare Odell, Gareth Ruck, Ivy George, Teddy Klaue, Tik Tok, Collin Dean, Pascal Ackerman, Skye Broberg, Jessie Carson, Thor, Adam McArthur, Jon Bailey, David W. Collins, Gideon Emery, Chi Jiajia Lim, Eric Lopez, Alexander Polinsky 

Director: Michael Dougherty