Krampus – Film Review by Fran Winston

Directed by: Michael Dougherty

Starring: Adam Scott, Toni Collette, David Koechner, Allison Tolman, Conchata Ferrell, Emjay Anthony, Stefania LaVie Owen, Krista Stadler

In cinemas December 4th

‘Tis the season to be jolly – unless you have a completely dysfunctional family who cause you to tear up your letter to Santa and stop believing in Christmas magic that is. Such is the premise of this flick which sees a young boy Max (Anthony) accidentally summon the Krampus when he ceases to acknowledge the festive season after taunts from his cousins about his Christmas wishes. Rather than Father Christmas the entire neighbourhood finds itself visited by the evil entity which is the shadow of Saint Nicholas. Along with his band of demonic elves and twisted helpers they wreak havoc on everything in sight dragging poor unsuspecting souls into their dark underworld. When Max and his family realise that something is awry they barricade themselves in their house hoping that the threat will eventually dissipate. But unbeknownst to them they may have already let the evil in and with the windows and doors boarded up there is no escape.

With so much emphasis placed on happiness and merriment at this time of year if you’ve had enough of the saccharine sweetness of the season then this is definitely the remedy. Unfortunately if you are not in total Grinch mode this will be somewhat of a letdown. Despite a great cast and some fabulous performances this never really elevates itself above a B movie schlocker. While the premise of the story has promise, stemming as it does from an ancient Scandinavian legend, the execution is poor and the effects are well below par than what you would expect. The big reveal where you finally see Krampus is underwhelming and many of the scenes and effects seem heavily influenced by 80s horrors such as Nightmare on Elm Street. The ending is also somewhat anti-climactic and again draws heavily on classic 80s shockers.

This isn’t dreadful but its main problem is that it doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be. It can’t decide if it’s a dark comedy, a horror or a moralistic drama. Equally it doesn’t seem to be sure of its target audience. Without knowing who it’s aimed at it is hard to judge this as I may not be the kind of person they are hoping to attract. There are some laugh out loud moments and some glance at them through your finger scenes but on the whole this is disappointing and should have been so much better given the pedigree of all involved.