Review of Krampus (2015) by Tracy S — 13 Dec 2015

From the director of the cult classic Trick r' Treat comes a horror comedy just in time for Christmas: Krampus; a movie that isn't great but is still immensely entertaining. Let's be honest, every time Hollywood pops out a Christmas horror film, it isn't exactly great.

The last time we saw one of these was in 2006?s Black Christmas remake, which was dull to say the least. Here though we have a horror comedy, much in the tradition of the Scream films, that harken back to the old school 80?s horror films but has a bit of flare to it.

This flare is courtesy of director Michael Dougherty. Dougherty's direction is hands down the best aspect of this film. Every scene is shot with a certain clarity but just enough rustic feel to remind us we are watching a horror film.

He also manages to throw in some very clever easter eggs of previous Christmas classics such as National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation as well as A Christmas Story. However it is with Dougherty's eye for the creatures in this film that set's it apart.

All the creatures here have a distinct look that is both fun as well as eerie. The character of Krampus in particular looked phenomenal and is worth the price of admission alone. While the direction was great we also get some well placed scenes that are fun to watch.

There are a lot of little demonic toys that are a a blast to watch wreak havoc that never reach scary but once you see the direction the film was taken you will enjoy them a lot more. The cast here is also good with Adam Scott, David Koechner, Toni Collette, and Allsion Tolman all doing fine in their roles with a great performance form child actor Emjay Anthony.

I say they did good because I feel they are doing the best with the script they have. The script here is definitely the weak link of the film and holds it back from being a great film. The story revolves around a rather despicable family that has the demonic shadow of St.

Nicolas fall upon them after one of the members declares hatred for Christmas and thus we have a movie. I am not familiar with the Krampus lore to say if the movie handled it right or not, but for the movie's sake we needed some for of a protagonist.

The family here is absolutely terrible and you never care if they live or die. I mentioned the use of these minions of Krampus and while they are fun, they take up majority of the film and we only see Krampus for a few short scenes.

While his scenes are fun, it wouldn't have hurt to have a lot more as the film progressed. There is also a pacing issue towards the end where the film technically ends twice. It feels like we saw the regular ending as well as an alternate ending all in the same cut of the film and it really made the film feel disjointed by the time the credits rolled.

The film also suffered in terms of tone as well. I personally enjoyed the comical tone however when a movie is marketed as a horror film, it really should have stuck more to the horror elements to keep the audience happy.

It is also worth mentioning that there are more than a few plot holes that needed to be answered to make this film feel more complete. Overall Krampus isn't great but it definitely a fun film. The creatures look great, the film as a solid sense of suspense and atmosphere, plus the scenes where the minions are wreaking havoc are a blast to watch.

There are a number of plot holes and the pacing is off in too many areas towards the end so I think this is best as a matinee admission, but if you want to wait until DVD or Bluray that is equally fine.