By Melissa Antoinette Garza
To celebrate an early Christmas, my best friend and I went to see the holiday horror film Krampus (2015). I’m not sure when I first learned of Krampus. It was either the show The League or a show that went through different scary legends like the Grim Reaper and the Boogeyman. I’m not sure which one came first, but either way I thought the folklore behind Krampus was interesting and could make for a great film.
Just a few short years later, we have a mainstream movie starring Adam Scott and a bunch of B-film copycats that I’ve yet to see. Krampus begins by showing what I wish I could say was exaggerated shots of a store on what looks like Black Friday at Wal-mart. Every year, I am so thankful for online shopping. I can avoid the craziness of Christmas shopping and still get what everyone wants. If I pay a little more, so be it. My sanity is worth it.
Max (Emjay Anthony) is an elf at a school production when he attacks another student who says Santa Claus isn’t real. Max is an eccentric 10 year old boy who wears bowties, loves Minecraft and isn’t interested in sports at all.
His parents Tom (Adam Scott) and Sarah (Toni Collette) are drifting apart. Tom is spending way too much time working, but despite promising not to travel during the holiday, he still takes long phone calls. Sarah meanwhile pops Xanax and tries to make everything perfect though she isn’t looking forward to her sister Linda (Allison Tolman) and her husband Howard (David Koechner). They have four children including a toddler. Their two tween girls are into sports and bully Max. Their younger brother belches and has poor manners just like his dad. They also bring the very loud, obnoxious, and rude Aunt Dorothy (Conchata Ferrell) to everyone’s dismay.
Making matters worse, the sisters are on opposite political sides and Howard refuses to let it die. Howard and Linda are rightwingers who come with guns in tow. They think Adam and Linda are soft democrats as Tom’s only survival training was in Eagle Scouts. He’s teased constantly about it.
Max’s closest ally is his grandmother known as Omi (Krista Stadler). Though everyone around Max seems to want him to grasp that Santa isn’t real, Omi is the only one who encourages him. She even has him write a letter every year.
Howard’s daughters steal the note and embarrass him by reading it aloud. He asks for his parents to be closer, to spend more time with his teenage sister Beth (Stefania LaVie Owen) and for his aunt and uncle to be treated better. When he gets the note back he runs to the window in his room and rips it up throwing it to the sky. This is the act that summons Krampus.
It starts off with a blizzard that kills the power, phone lines, cell towers and hot water. The snow is so bad that they can’t see if other houses have the same issue. Beth decides to walk to her boyfriend’s house which is only a few blocks away. This results in her coming face to face with Krampus who can fly house to house without a sleigh. The visual is fantastic.
Soon, Krampus finds each person one by one and despite the families trying to work together it appears nothing can beat him.
For a PG-13 movie, Krampus pulls no punches. No one is safe from Krampus’s wrath, not even babies. I heard some people say they expected this to be a safe scary movie for kids. NOT TRUE. Do not take your children to this film. It has several seriously creepy moments. The production plays out far more like Jeepers Creepers (2001) than Gremlins (1984).
That said, I can’t suggest this film enough. If this movie was made 30 years ago, we’d have idiots protesting it as blasphemy. Also, Siskel and Ebert would be giving out the names and phone numbers of the production team like Siskel did for Silent Night Deadly Night (1984). Damn, they were douches.
Fans of practical effects will be very pleased with how much they did with masks, make-up and puppetry. There is some CGI but it’s used sparingly and well. One scene is completely CGI but it is perfect. Omi is telling the story of how she came across Krampus when she was a child. As those listening to it and taking it seriously are the children, it makes sense that they’d imagine it in a cartoonish way.
As for the acting, it’s absolutely great. Adam Scott is one of the most likable actors there is. David Koechner played a tamed down Eddie (Randy Quaid) from National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. All the child actors did an excellent job as well. I’m sometimes hard on kids, but every one did extremely well. Emjay Anthony was absolutely wonderful and believable as Max. His positivity, eccentricity and assurance reminded me of my nephew.
The conclusion isn’t shocking but is well thought out and very enjoyable. It leaves it open for a sequel and I really hope that Krampus becomes a horror icon.
I’d definitely try to see this while it’s still in the theater. It packs a certain punch. I’ll certainly be buying it when it comes to DVD and would tell any horror fan to do the same.
Overall 8.5/10 Krampus is the reason for the season
