BY EMERSON LAYNE

Krampus is a 2015 film directed by Michael Dougherty, described as a holiday horror comedy. With a budget of $15 million, it was a great success at the box office with $61.5 million. We follow the Engel family, consisting of Max, played by Emjay Anthony, Max’s inner family, Sarah, Tom, and Beth, and Max’s relatives who gather to celebrate Christmas. 

During this one fateful Christmas, tension turns high on this troubled family. With fighting and bitterness intertwined throughout the family, Max loses his Christmas spirit, sparking the movie’s events. Max and his family fall into a festive nightmare as the town undergoes a severe snow storm, as everyone else in town seems to have disappeared. The family fights off murderous toys, gingerbread men, and demonically mischievous elves. Omi, Max’s grandmother, tells the family that this is the work of Krampus, the demon counterpart to Santa Claus, whose goal is to punish the naughty who lose their Christmas spirit and drag them to the Underworld.

A fun movie with great practical effects. The effects really stood out with the murderous toys, mainly the cute Jack in the Box creature with a grotesquely large mouth. While the main themes of the movie was the misuse and lost message of Christmas and consumerism being the primary focus of the holidays during the beginning of the movie. During the beginning of the movie we see shoppers invading a store to buy gifts for the holidays, highlighting that many people see this is how Christmas is supposed to be: buying the latest toys, electronics, clothes, etc. Also during the beginning of the movie, we see Omi and Max trying to have and believing in a more personal and sincere Christmas by baking cookies and having tender moments together, contrasting with the rest of the family seeing the holiday as a more mandatory and tedious time of year when Max’s extended family comes over and it’s obvious nobody wants to see each other but do it anyway for the sake of the holiday. Then the movie progressed into more of a creature feature rather than a heartfelt movie about Christmas with bits of horror elements. While the creatures weren’t bad at all, they seemed to be more of a plot filler of a deep movie about consumerism, broken families, and Christmas. While it would be nice seeing Krampus more and having Krampus’ backstory more present, it wouldn’t really work in this kind of movie because it focuses on the Engel family’s struggles and tension rather than a film about a family killing the monster. 

While it isn’t the best horror holiday ever, especially compared to things like Gremlins or The Nightmare Before Christmas, it was a pretty decent film and accomplished, although spotty, its message about bettering yourself and your family with a demonic twist. 

Rating: 7.3/10