Starring Adam Scott, David Koechner, and Toni Collette, this film centers around the Austro-Bavarian demon creature from Alpine folklore called Krampus, who is the antithesis of Santa Claus. I would consider the film to be a black comedy and it has so far received mixed reviews from critics. It wasn't a perfect film, but I liked a lot about it that I felt a blog post was necessary.
The story finds a regular suburban family preparing for the holidays. One of the children named Max still believes in Santa, even though his faith in ol' St. Nick is slipping. Emjay Anthony portrays Max and I was quite impressed by his acting in this film. His family and extended family fight so much, focus too much on work, or make fun of him for liking Santa Claus that he finally just gives up on Santa and sending him a letter. The house is then attacked by Krampus, the mythical creature who punishes unbelievers, as opposed to Santa Claus who rewards those who believe. The family must then battle Krampus and his creepy minions.
Where the plot was imperfect in parts, the design completely stole the show. Upon first reading about the movie, I heard that there were going to be "creatures" in it and I thought "ugh." More CGI nonsense, unrealistic and inartistic, that is found in so many films today. But I was pleasantly surprised. Krampus' helpers were haunted with a holly jolly twist and so many of them seemed like real, hand-made characters. Besides the rather lame computer animated evil gingerbread men, the snowmen, the elves, the teddy bear, doll/angel concoction and especially the Jack-in-the-Box monster were all designed so wonderfully. Each creature took a traditional Christmas object and made it beyond creepy. A demonic teddy bear with two rows of sharp teeth. A Christmas angel with bulging eyes and huge wings who tries to hang someone with Christmas lights. Snowmen with unsettling faces that just keep appearing outside the window. Elves with masks that were a mix between a Jack-in-the-Box and something worn at a masquerade ball. And finally, the Jack-in-the-Box itself. It reminded me so much of No Face from Spirited Away. It began in the film as just a simple toy, but it grew a gigantic mouth and it would grow bigger and bigger as it ate people. Creepy dolls, puppets, or toys really get me and this one was just about freaky as it gets.
Another design element I really liked was Grandma's story of when she first encountered Krampus. The entire scene was done in either stop-action or CGI trying to imitate stop-action. It was very different from the rest of the film; I wasn't expecting an animated sequence in an adult comedy horror film but it was so well done. It was like a mix of Tim Burton and the Deathly Hallows story scene in the next to last Harry Potter film.
I am also a huge fan of black comedies and this film takes such a dark turn on Christmas. The opening scene is simply slow motion shots of Black Friday with calm, joyous Christmas music playing. People getting trampled, kids arguing over toys, and policemen wielding tasers. There is another scene where a beautiful rendition of Silent Night is heard while three parents are sucked into the snow by one of the awful creatures, leaving the kids alone. The film uses dark comedy to satirize the commercialization of Christmas and loss of holiday spirit in the modern era. It wasn't laugh-out-loud hysterical like some other black comedies, but it still had some good moments that all added to the general spirit of the movie.
After I saw the film, I was really interested in knowing more about the "real" story of Krampus. There isn't actually too much about him that I could find, and so it makes sense that the director felt like he could take some liberties with the character. The origin story is quite unclear as well, but from my research has found (am I not Dorothy Ann from The Magic School Bus?), the film's Krampus was very similar in design. The horns, hooves, claws, sharp teeth, chains, and bells engraved with "Greetings from Krampus" in German were all present in the film. Krampus is also sent out to punish children, just like the stories say, and Krampus will take naughty children to the underworld. This was a part of the film I really thought they had just made up, but according to National Geographic, Krampus would beat misbehaving children and then throw them into hell.
This movie definitely called for discussion to determine exactly what happened and what everything meant, but sometimes that's a good thing in a film. It calls for repeated viewings and deeper thinking. It isn't the best horror film or black comedy or even Christmas film, but it is something different. And if you're looking to make Christmas just a little more twisted this year, I would definitely go and see Krampus.
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