Krampus (2015)

[AndyLL]

Discuss

[Webslinger]

It's not as deliriously fun as Trick 'r Treat, but Krampus, just the first film of Michael Dougherty's since the release fiasco of the aforementioned horror anthology, is an admirably strange horror-comedy. It makes a point of being decidedly unsentimental, and its demented take on Christmas iconography is fun to watch, especially in a wild third act that more than makes up for a slow second act. Considering the unambiguously comedic bent of the film, it's a minor miracle that Universal greenlit it at all; any audiences that go in expecting a straightforward horror film are bound to be disappointed by the campiness that ensues, even despite the admittedly creepy atmosphere that the filmmakers develop.

 

B

 

A few other observations:

 

1.) I just about lost it during the confrontation between David Koechner and the gingerbread men. If anyone needs more screentime, it's those ooey-gooey little killing machines.

 

2.) I have to give Dougherty some credit on the ending. Even though it feels a touch dark relative to the tone of the rest of the film, I was 99% sure after the grandmother's callback voiceover that I was watching a tacked-on, studio-mandated happy ending. (That being said, as soon as the filmmakers began to start playing the "it was all a dream" card, I knew that there had to be something more sinister in store.)

 

3.) Is it just me, or was Toni Collette's "[Neighbors' last name] haven't talked to us ever since Max's noodle incident?" line a clear test of the number of TV Tropes frequenters in the audience?

[kaijukurt]

 

I was disappointed. So much potential, some damn good practical effects, but the pacing just seemed way off to me.

 

You know how in horror movies, the "something's not right" feeling is what dominates the first act?

 

In here, it literally takes half the movie to get things going as they would in the first 20 minutes of most other horror comedy flicks. Most of the audience seemed restless or were unashamedly checking their phones.

 

I know that Dougherty wanted this Gremlins kind of vibe, but the creatures don't get enough screen time (nowhere near the Gremlins in their own film). The several creatures here are perfectly set-up for Gremlins-levels of sinister fun, but..it just doesn't do enough. A shame cos there was clearly some thought put into their designs.

For example, the man-eating Jack-in-the-Box is a really great, messed up idea. But the film only takes advantage of that idea in the brief scene where we see it swallowing one of the kids and wipes his mouth after.

 

Plus some of the shots in the big creature sequence in the attic are edited weirdly so it can be hard to follow.

 

Thematically though, I liked it. The line "Its not about what you do, its about what you believe in" offers some food for thought, and the ending is a nice sinister touch.

 

First act and third act (the ending especially) were not bad for me, its just that the movie screeches to a near halt in the middle.

 

Krampus lends itself to a great premise from the get-go but ultimately, stumbles and falls.

 

1.5/4

 

 

 

[Krissykins]

Nicely shot, great Christmas vibes.

 

Too many characters though, who didn't care enough about their children lol. 

 

More scenes like the attic scene would have been welcome. 

 

3/5 

[DAJK]

Is it wrong for me to say this got me into the Christmas spirit? Oh well.

 

Entertaining, but I can certainly see some people utterly hating it. The build-up was entertaining enough, and the first part of the "horror" was also extremely great. Felt very confined, claustrophobic, but also "cozy". The scene with Krampus chasing the daughter by jumping roof to roof is easily my favourite in the movie, I wish it had more scenes like that. 

But the last act got a bit ahead of itself. Once they went upstairs and were being attacked by the toys I found that the movie lost the balance between silly and fun to campy and dumb. Oh and the last jump scare before the credits, the girl next to me screamed so effing loud and punched me in the arm, and the rest of the theatre including my other friends erupted with laughter.

 

C+

[ainsleyb]

Where to begin? A big let down for me as the film fails at being either funny or scary.

 

There is no suspense, no tension, no laughs, plenty of dull or annoying characters, essentially the ugly sister to Dougherty's far superior 'Trick r Treat'.  The films aims for a 'Gremlins' type theme which doesn't really kick in until the last 20 minutes or so but it's all played so nonchalantly that we don't care if the characters live or die because no one in the film seems to mind all that much either. Children go missing, a baby is snatched by elves and you get the reaction of the parents is "we have other children to protect". The pacing was all off for me as well, the sister being the first to be taken didn't make much sense as she had more screen time than the cousins, why spend 15 minutes building her character at the beginning to kill her off 25 minutes into the movie?

 

There is no gore at all, it's a very tame 15 rating (u.k) which isnt necessarily a bad thing but none of the creatures are scary. Krampus himself seemed to have jaw lock for the last 15 minutes of the film and everything else is played for laughs but not enough is done to make them either truly funny, or truly scary. It all comes across as just being very silly which isn't what the trailers sold.

 

A big missed opportunity and definitely not worth seeing in the cinema.

 

**/*****

[Frozen]

This movie had a great concept and lots of potential. Krampus is a real legend from Germany so there's a lot you can do with that. But there wasn't enough horror or action in this to be exciting. They needed to be chased around around outside more like the scene with Beth in the beginning. The house just didn't leave enough room for excitement. I wish they had gotten to the mall like they talked about and had a big climatic fight. 

 

The characters were ok, but kinda boring. Max wasn't that great of an actor either. Overall I'd recommend it but don't expect too much.

[kaijukurt]

On 05/12/2015, 11:14:01, DAJK said:

 

 The scene with Krampus chasing the daughter by jumping roof to roof is easily my favourite in the movie, I wish it had more scenes like that. 

 

^This.

 

 

[Klingo]

Just now, DAJK said:

Is it wrong for me to say this got me into the Christmas spirit? Oh well.

 

Entertaining, but I can certainly see some people utterly hating it. The build-up was entertaining enough, and the first part of the "horror" was also extremely great. Felt very confined, claustrophobic, but also "cozy". The scene with Krampus chasing the daughter by jumping roof to roof is easily my favourite in the movie, I wish it had more scenes like that. 

But the last act got a bit ahead of itself. Once they went upstairs and were being attacked by the toys I found that the movie lost the balance between silly and fun to campy and dumb. Oh and the last jump scare before the credits, the girl next to me screamed so effing loud and punched me in the arm, and the rest of the theatre including my other friends erupted with laughter.

 

C+

You should scream and punch her back.

[baumer]

I feel pretty much the way you guys do.  Big missed opportunity here.  One thing that drove me nuts about the movie is that you really couldn't tell what was going on during the scenes of terror.  There were way too many close ups and you couldn't tell if someone was getting bitten or scratched or anything else.  This is a film that should have been R rated.  There was no blood, no limbs torn off, nothing.  It could have been so much better.  

 

One thing I did like about it is it seemed to be an homage to a lot of other Christmas movies and horror movies in general.  There was a scene right out of JAWS, Tremors or course, Gremlins and of course Christmas Vacation.

 

But overall this was a big disappointment.

 

6/10

[Webslinger]

On 12/8/2015, 7:16:15, baumer said:

This is a film that should have been R rated.  

Agreed, but I'm guessing that the PG-13 was a necessary compromise to get the film made at all.

 

I'd bump my original grade down a notch, but I still enjoyed it for the most part. Still, it's clearly inferior to Trick 'r Treat, so hopefully this film's relative success will encourage more people to seek out that hidden gem.

[mattmav45]

Simply a damn good time.  

As times as viewers we'll come across a film in which the vision in and of itself is strong enough propel the film to success.  Said vision is able to bring a distinct and tangible energy to the proceedings, and most importantly, said energy has the stamina to last for the full run time.  Fortunately for the viewer, such is very much the case here.

 

At its core this remains a Christmas film.  Sure, it's on the dark side, but Christmas nonetheless.  Max and family gather for another family Christmas with some damn tasty grub.  Naturally, the in-laws constitute creature feature material in their own right, and what follows is a poor Christmas experience.  Max inadvertently rips up a letter to Santa, and in effect summons the dark spirit Krampus.  The horror, the horror.

 

In many ways the film can be divided up into two distinct halves.  The first half sets up the characters and in many ways acts as the countdown to the impending destruction.  The characters aren't necessarily developed well, but they are developed enough so that each person feels different and has their own energy.  Perhaps most importantly, this first half showcases classic family Christmas dynamics that act as the base of the proverbial shitting of the fan.  And what a shitting of the fan it ultimately is.

 

As viewers at times we'll come across a film that, while not horrible, could have let loose a little bit.  Thankfully, such is not a problem here.  A flip is switched, and all hell breaks loose.  Whether we're talking about maniacal teddy bears, deadly gingerbread cookies, or shady as fuck elves, there is a damn good time to be had here for any horror fan.  It seeps creativity in spades, and as a viewer you just have to sit back and bask in it all.  

Superior Christmas horror cinema.

[Charism]

Just a perfect, little movie. 8.5/10

[The Dark Alfred]

Pretty good film. Good first act, decent cast and hilarious all way through. Third act is cliche, less scary and predictable but most Xmas films are. It's a fun ride though.

[MovieGuyKyle17]

Krampus: Did you ever want a Christmas Comedy-Horror film that might scare the kids into being good around the Holidays? Well I got the film for you and that film is Krampus. The story about how losing the spirit of Christmas could lead to a demon version of Santa Clause coming to visit your entire family and tormenting Adam Scott & Company. This is a horror-comedy that I really enjoyed. Director Michael Dougherty does a great job with atmosphere. The film uses lots of practical effects which is really nice to see and a great chance of pace from the majority of films just use CGI. (Yes, I know there is some CGI in this film but its really not much) Few of the monsters in this film are actually pretty terrifying. The minions antics are a lot of fun. The family may not be the most likeable bunch but their not complete douch bags so you are still rooting for them. They are no saints but they don't deserve the wrath of Krampus. I had a lot of fun with this movie.

Grade: B

[The Stingray]

I thought this was fun, though not as good as Trick 'r Treat. Halloween over Christmas, ya know.

 

[Goffe]

First half is fantastic, funny and tense as would expect; second half tries to ape Sam Raimi hard and it's way too cliche, definitely didn't earn its big emotional climax.

 

Also, who didn't guess the ending the moment they started to flesh out the characters in the begining of the film?

[K1stpierre]

Just saw this, and have to say it wasn't as bad as I thought. It wasn't great, but at the same time the film gave off the vibe it wasn't trying to be serious. It definitely had a horror/comedy like feel to it, almost like it was making fun of itself in a weird way and it somewhat worked for me. I think it gave the film some humor and the humor worked, I especially liked the line, "Well I just got my ass kicked by a bunch of cookies so I'll believe anything" and also "Pretty much, she's saying we're fucked" (grandma nods yes).

 

Don't get me wrong, this film is def flawed. For one, I actually kind of thought it took way to long to get into the action, which you don't often hear from me as I'm all for character development and delaying the gratification of the climatic scares that are to come. However, with a film like this when it's clearly not a serious horror film and like I said is somewhat making fun of itself (at least that's the vibe I got), then there really isn't any point in character development (to an extent). In fact, the characters then to me you should be developing and giving screen time to are the actual antagonists, like the toys and such. I would have loved more scenes with the Ginger bread cookies, they were funny as hell. Instead, it was like I think almost 45-50 minutes into the movie when we actually got a good look at them I think (I'm not counting Beth's death as you didn't see anything).

 

This was def a weird movie, and again this review is coming off literally seconds after just watching it so I'll def have to sleep on it and maybe it might change my mind for either worse or better. For now, I can say that this is one of those times that although I know the movie is flawed in numerous ways, it was almost a guilty pleasure for me as I had fun watching it. I'd give it a low B, overall grade 7/10. 

[Brainbug]

Actually i kinda love this movie. idk its just charming to me and the fact that something like this even got made makes me happy. Together with Gremlins, Die Hard and Hateful Eight ill watch this every year in time for christmas

[Maxmoser3]

It’s nothing to be taken seriously. But it kinda reminded me of Gremlins or something from the 80’s. It’s a fun Christmas horror comedy, that isn’t scary. But I enjoyed the acting, and I thought the kids weren’t bad, and Krampus tricking the fat kid. 

A pretty good movie with some cool monsters that are remincscent from Evil Dead with crazy Gingerbread men looking cute & innocent, a hungry jester, and of course the krampus creature. All of which for a modest budget did a great job for what they could.

my only problem was near the end, but other that. 

Krampus is actually a fun horror comedy with decent actors I especially enjoyed the drunken aunt. Grade: B