It’s that time of year where it becomes increasingly difficult to find new horror movies. Everyone wants to see the Oscar bait films, family-friendly variety or in the case of this year, Star Wars! Well what about those of us looking for something a little darker? I present to you, Krampus. It comes from Austro-Bavarian Alpine folklore. While Saint Nicholas is known for rewarding all the good children, Krampus comes to punish those who are bad. Its appearance is devil-like, complete with horns and cloven hooves. In most cases, it carries chains which it uses for dramatic effect. Such is the central antagonist of the film.
The film opens with the madness of holiday shopping. The title cards are done in a festive font. The depiction of the inhumane treatment of others is so true to life, it could have been filmed in any store in America. With, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas,” playing, the sequence could be considered social commentary. We are then introduced to the Engel family, comprised of; parents Tom & Sarah, siblings Beth & max and Grandma Omi. They are getting last minute preparations together for the arrival of other family guests.
Aunt Dorothy, Sarah’s sister Linda, her husband Howard and children; Howie Jr, Stevie, Jordan, and Baby Chrissy arrive shortly there-after. They are the typical members of anyone’s family that you have to endure celebrating Christmas. During their first dinner together, Stevie reads aloud a letter to Santa written by Max. A fight ensues and Max goes upstairs to his room upset. He decides to rip up the letter, instead of resealing it in an envelope, and throws it out the window. It gets picked up by a gust of wind that carries it into the sky.
Aggressive looking storm clouds quickly roll in and causes an unnatural blizzard. It blankets everything with several feet of snow. This results in a loss of power and hot water for the neighborhood, which seemingly turns into a ghost town as most of the Engel’s neighbors have left for winter vacation. Beth decides to go check on her boyfriend who lives a couple blocks down the street. As she does so, the sky gets darker and she sees a horned creature on the roof of a house. She flees and takes refuge under a delivery truck in the middle of the road. Stocked by the creature she turns to notice a jack in the box toy. It begins to play and slowly open up. The camera cuts away as she shrieks in terror at whatever’s inside.
Several hours later, Sarah notices that she hasn’t returned just as Max begins to get worried. Tom and Howard decide to go to her boyfriend’s house and see if she’s still there. Once there, they discover the door is open. Checking inside, the house is frosted over with snow. Presents and other items litter the floor. There are no signs of anyone as they search. In the kitchen, Howard finds a gingerbread cookie nailed to the refrigerator with a kitchen knife. They hear screams from Beth and go outside to get her. Howard gets attacked and injures his leg. Tom helps him escape. Not finding Beth anywhere near, they go back to the house to regroup.
Back at the house, everyone hears loud noises coming from the roof but choose to ignore them. Tom and Howard return as everybody panics about the whereabouts of Beth and Howard’s injury. With the storm getting worse, they bunker down for the night. Hours later, they all are asleep. The jingling of bells and laughter can be heard coming from the roof. A chain with a gingerbread cookie comes down the chimney. Howie Jr wakes up and sees the cookie. He can’t help but go and grab it. It comes alive and attacks him with the chain, wrapping him up. The rest of the family awake just as he’s taken up the chimney.
Omi only then decides to reveal that she knows what is happening. When she was a little girl her parents were going to separate during the holidays. Being upset about it, she made a wish that they would be taken care of. Well, that Christmas, Krampus came and took her parents away. He left her a bell to remind her of what happened. She’s carried the guilt of that night ever since. Tom, Sarah and Howard go to make a plan on how to get out of their predicament. Meanwhile, Stevie and Jordan go into the attic, thinking they’ve heard Beth calling them.
The girls scream out, bringing Tom, Sarah and Linda to the rescue. Howard has to contend with his own troubles as a trio of ginger bread cookies attack him with a nail gun. Back in the attic the other trio have to contend with a sinister angel, teddy bear and the jack in the box from earlier. They fight with them until the demonic toys escape into the vents. They rush downstairs to defend Max, Dorothy and Omi from the toys as they come down the vents. Howard joins them after dispatching with the cookies. They finally get the upper hand just as a group of dark elves crash through the window. They take Howard, Dorothy and Baby Chrissy.
The remaining members of the family decide to make a break for it. Omi stays behind to confront Krampus and buy some time for the rest of them. Krampus’ helpers are gaining on them fast, so Tom sacrifices himself. Max and Stevie make it to the snowplow but Linda and Sarah don’t. Max tries desperately to get the thing to start but fails to. Stevie gets yanked through the window. Max leaves the vehicle and runs into Krampus. He gives him a bell wrapped in the torn pieces of his letter. Krampus turns and leaves him alone.
Max goes and finds where Krampus and his helpers are. Krampus opens a hole to the underworld. The elves prepare to drop Stevie in. Max yells at Krampus, demanding that he trade his life for that of Stevie. He explains when he made his wish he just wanted Christmas to be like it used to be. After waiting a moment, Krampus drops Max into the pit. And he wakes up in his room. He hears his family and goes downstairs. They are opening presents. He is puzzled but doesn’t seem to know exactly why. He gets a present and opens it. It turns out to be a bauble. The scene dissolves into a snowglobe in Krampus’ hand. He places it on a shelf with hundreds of others and leaves.
Co-written and directed by Michael Dougherty, the genus behind 2009’s Trick ‘r Treat. Krampus is a fun story but falls short of joining in the ranks of his much loved cult classic. This movie should never have been PG-13. The audience this movie is made for want gore in their horror films, that constitutes an R-Rating. Lacking this, the film has no death scenes, not one. No body dies on screen. Think about that if you’re watching it for the second time. To not have gore in the film is like watching a porno without the sex scenes. I don’t know of anyone that would want to watch that.
Another thing I found interesting was the amount of self-sacrificing in the movie. There is not just 1 or 2 but a whopping 6! I’m sorry to say but as much as this family is depicted for not being that caring for one another, this number is ridiculously high. I can understand Grandma Omi’s because she’s trying to redeem herself for her own cowardice from childhood. Max’s sacrifice is also logical since he’s the one responsible for bringing Krampus to town. What doesn’t make sense; self-absorbed Howard, bitter Dorothy, negligent Tom and Sarah’s on behave of her sister’s spawn making sacrifices. It’s so out of place they all should have had swords to fall on.
Back to the genius of Michael Dougherty. This film does cleverly reference not just other classic horror films but also other holiday movies. In our first glimpse at the Engel household, a b & w version of A Christmas Carol is playing on TV. This is a nod to Halloween, in that film the children are watching a b & w version of The Thing from outer space on TV. We then have the arrival of the dimwit sister’s family. Obnoxious and loud, like they are, just as in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation where Eddie and his family show up to Clark’s house. And in no particular order; Home Alone, a fight at dinner results in a Christmas wish against the family, Gremlins, creatures destroying and killing around a Christmas tree, Black Christmas, there’s someone in the attic, The Polar Express, main character gets a bauble to remember the night’s events and A Christmas Carol gets a second reference during the ending.
All in all, the film is deserving of a place in the ranks of holiday-themed horror movies. It’s not the best of the bunch but it certainly isn’t the worst either. So, if your season is in need of slaying or your inner horror fan is fading from holiday cheer, watch Krampus. It’s a Christmas unlike the ones you used to know.
Don’t Forget the Popcorn,
-BB
The Movie Pit 