"Krampus" Movie Review

Michael Dougherty’s 2015 film “Krampus” is a reliably entertaining, yet somewhat forgettable, horror-comedy mashup for the Christmas season.

The film centers around a dysfunctional family celebrating Christmas. The family’s initially warm, joyous spirits are dashed when relatives arrive, bringing uncomfortable tension with them. The botched family celebration becomes progressively worse when a young son named Max is humiliated by his relatives for his belief in Santa Claus. Max’s sadness and anger spawns the demonic presence, named Krampus, which violently punishes the family for neglecting traditional Christmas values.

“Krampus” utilizes a mixture of comedy and horror throughout the film, rarely taking itself seriously. While tonally inconsistent, the film should please viewers looking for an enjoyable, though disposable, haunted house-esque thrill ride.

Any film like “Krampus” should contain characters worth caring about. However, the majority of the characters — with the exceptions of Adam Scott’s earnest Tom, Toni Collette’s motherly Sarah and Krista Stadler’s German-speaking grandmother — are either highly unlikable or boring. The film unfortunately never fully develops the characters, leaving them as hollow, familiar archetypes. These include the foul-mouthed grandmother, the gun-loving American relation and the brutish cousins. Rather than generating tension and emotional resonance through the family’s deadly situation, the film left viewers rooting for the Krampus itself.

Fortunately, this lack of character development doesn’t severely hurt the film and comedy can be generated throughout. Characters consistently spout comedic one-liners and make unrealistic decisions that worsen their situation but make the film more enjoyable.

The film’s tongue-in-cheek tone also translates into the demonic forces themselves. Dougherty opts to avoid computer-generated images as much as possible, instead using practical effects which lend the hideous monsters to more tangible appearances. The creatures take the forms of typical Christmas icons including a colossal, bloodthirsty jack-in-the-box, whose gaping mouth is lined with razor-sharp teeth or the pair of murderous gingerbread men. Surprisingly, Krampus itself only makes a few appearances throughout the film.

“Krampus” had the potential to become a cult classic, but the film’s PG-13 rating holds it back. Characters often speak with sanitized dialogue, which restricts the film’s comedic potential. The violence — exciting though bloodless — also doesn’t leave much of an impact.

Overall, if viewers are able to overlook the shallow characters, suspend their disbelief and never take the film seriously, “Krampus” will prove perfectly watchable, if not especially memorable.

Rating: 3/5 Nail-Gun-Wielding Gingerbread Men