Krampus: Movie Review and the Legend Explained

up on the housetop reindeer pause out jumps good old Santa Claus down through the chimney with lots of toys oh my the little ones Christmas joy oh it's always a little bit scary to see a new film by young director whose work you admire in the music world there's a phenomenon known as the sophomore slump in which a band's second album completely pales in comparison to their debut release we've already seen a sophomore slump this year in the form of sinister to a painful disappointment of a sequel to what was a pretty excellent horror film going to see Krampus was for me and many others a walk into that same territory of fear that comes from knowing a great new band sophomore effort is about to be released Krampus is written and directed by Michael Dougherty who is best known as the writer and director of trick-or-treat a smash cult hit released solely on DVD trigger treat had originally been planned for theatrical release through Warner Brothers and was produced without expectation by legendary pictures but received too many release push backs and was only shown at film festivals for a few years once it made its way online and in more accessible formats trick-or-treat found a serious audience and collected quite a lot of positive critical reception it is in fact one of my personal favorite Halloween movies and one of my favorite movies overall this is why Krampus is special not only isn't Michael Doherty second film as both writer and director it's his very first national theatrical release this is the moment for director to step up and shine and after finding such major support outside the mainstream box office these past few years Michael Doherty has a lot to gain from the success of Krampus but just as much to lose this is Michael's own sophomore effort and being a personal fan of his in the theater I would have to see firsthand whether this would be slump or success Krampus has actually caused a lot of confusion for those interested in trailers what exactly is this thing some kind of evil Santa Claus did somebody just happen to make this monster up and try wrecking Christmas again because their Halloween didn't last long enough No the Krampus is actually a real thing a real legend that is known as the shadow of Saint Nicholas Krampus is a being who comes around during Christmas to punish bad children and is also credited as the Horned God of witches due to his pagan roots his legend developed in the german-speaking world and is celebrated mainly in the area of Austria to this day including parades and costume parties though easily seen as some kind of Christmas devil the Krampus works in tandem with Santa Claus dealing only with bad children while Santa rewards the good what happens to the bad children it depends on the person recounting the legend Krampus may leave them coal he might eat them or he may throw them in some kind of container and literally drag them to hell in this way Krampus embodies the spirit of greed while Santa Claus is the patron of giving Santa will give give and give some more but for the kids who only enjoy getting crumpets will come and turn their greed right back on to them his legend is strong enough in certain areas of the world that Krampus has been shown in several forms since the early 1900s Christmas cards candy dishes paintings Krampus was king of public relations at Christmas before the coca-cola company ever put Santa Claus on a can many depictions show the Krampus would change which can be used to help capture bad children his appearance however is always the same a dark deformed half-man half-goat with cloven hooves and long curving horns it's unknown where Krampus originally came from but it's enough to know who he is and what he does it's interesting to know that while the Western role has been celebrating jolly old Santa Claus certain regions of Europe have been doing the same while inviting his dark half to the holiday party knowledge of the Krampus has actually spread enough over the last few years that mainstream media has been picking up the legend Vizier saw a new anthology film a Christmas horror story featuring Krampus while a few underground studios have already taken a few shots at showing the legend Krampus has also appeared in an episode of American Dad scooby-doo and the Venture Brothers but there hasn't been an attempt to crack the public consciousness quite like the new film by Michael Dougherty Krampus is the tale of an American family trying to keep it together while hosting the raucous unsavory in-laws for Christmas the film opens in a way that any fan of theming can really appreciate displaying a frozen over version of the Universal Pictures title that carries over into the title for legendary pictures coated in snow a very special montage in the mall Falls that sets the tone for Krampus his arrival with his own take of the holiday spirit from there a smooth transition brings us back to the home we'll be staying in this year our main character in the house max is attempting to hold on to his belief in Santa Claus but personal struggles with extended family keep challenging his Christmas spirit ultimately Max's anger gets the upper hand and in a fit of hurt feelings he accidentally summons Krampus with a misplaced wish the rest of the film is as expected a household fight to survive as Krampus comes knocking bringing his entire workshop of demonic toys with him while characters on screen fought off nasty surprises and pleasantly route packages anyone who entered the theater just wanted to get a perfectly good gift that just looks scary on the outside and thankfully this year's holiday movie was delivered by Santa Claus himself because Krampus is fantastic the first victory for the film comes from a place movies just can't be allowed to skimp out on characters what struck me most while watching the first half of the film was how good the entire cast was at portraying genuine people too often in movies or TV shows really great dialog comes out of characters who while sounding really cool or intelligent just wouldn't be like that in reality the script for Krampus makes you believe in the people who are talking and the way they handle their words is in such an expert manner you don't even question how nobody is saying Ah or um or hesitating in their sentences they don't need to because every sentence is as believable as the things you'd hear normal conversation spoken in that manner I can't stress enough how strong the approach was for getting realistic people into this film at one point the older daughter Beth is speaking to her boyfriend on a webcam upstairs they're both high school kids of course but here's the thing both of the actors look like actual high school kids they are legitimately within the exact age range for their roles how often have you seen a major production with 22 year old actors playing high school juniors way too often right the casting director for Krampus must feel your pain because they carry the same kind of respect for common sense and realism to the rest of the cast chosen I fully believed in the people from this film enough to even draw compared since the people I know and that's a major victory another major win for characterization in the film lies in the realm of what's called incidental information when writing a cardinal sin to commit is breaking the law of show don't tell this is referring to the act of letting a viewer know something or infer information from an action something being said or an expression that doesn't explicitly explain what it means right then in there you have to interpret it or understand by the suggestion being made at several points in the film my character will say a certain line or react in a way that lets you know something about the relationship between characters or their reactions to developing situations that doesn't involve direct exposition this seems like a common sense sort of thing but it's so often skipped over in films that the amount of it in Krampus actually sticks out the only points where characterization are weak are certain moments of not being more distraught panicked or sensible when bad or horrifying things are happening some of this is due to the mechanics of action driven storytelling but when you have the opportunity for characters to react in ways that reveal their personalities more while demonstrating their reality as people it ought to be taken the other point to speak of is an interesting issue the characters and Krampus do have depth and show development during the story which is fantastic but it doesn't go too far in that regard and that makes it harder to reach deeper levels of being able to relate to them still these characters are in an action driven storyline so stopping here and there for deeper characterization at certain points may not have been the right choice for action taking place as for that action driven storyline it really does flow there there will be people who feel a bit put off by the pacing during certain segments of the film but overall the setup and delivery felt excellent the whole way through what I will say for the story is that it doesn't take too many turns outside of what you expect four-story beads in something like this a lot of it takes place in the house they are fights with monsters there are group meetings to establish a plan of action a good amount of it is par for the course with not too much deviation but when it does deviate and go outside of the house a home man does this movie shine it's a well-established rule in horror that the very first monster sighting has to be good it can't just work for what the film overall is going for it needs to be powerful the first meeting with Krampus was the second moment of being truly impressed watching this film it's scary it's thrilling and it's just awesome to watch unfold I've never seen a moment like it in a movie and I want to see a whole lot more in the future now and this brings up the all-important topic we've all been waiting for fear this is a horror comedy and while we've all seen the nice bits of jokes and witty dialogue from the trailers we know the full hits where fear beats haven't been revealed Krampus does have a lot of good tense moments and the toys our monster brings with him are true Horrors and I do mean that they are true Horrors what needs to be said for Krampus is something I can't really say for any of the other films I've reviewed it understands horror it really understands the idea of horror seeing something that's terrifying witnessing it in the act of being terrifying doing something disgusting or evil right in front of you or just being there in the open in full view looking at you looking like an absolute nightmare that is the real meaning of horror terror is the continued act of being afraid but being a horrified means coming across something the mind can't comprehend and doesn't ever want to comprehend us real usually while committing some atrocious act bonus points if it's doing it to someone you love or admirer of course Krampus understands this it doesn't use jump scares because it knows better a jump scare isn't horror it's just getting scared really really fast and it's over even when Krampus hits you with a quick scare it was building towards it with tension and it doesn't go completely out of its way to set up a jump scare basically you know you're about to be hit by something because it's already started and it won't be the same kind of loud bang and sudden sucker punch Hollywood's been abusing for too many years atmosphere and visuals that combine for these sort of things are where Krampus absolutely dominates almost every single thing in this film is created with a practical physical effect made in a workshop there is extremely little CGI and the efforts of taking the hard road pay off these minions are scary and just awesome to look at they're so interesting to see and observe even when they're mauling someone and Krampus himself is fantastic to look at at too many points of the film I just want them to slow down in the middle of an attack so I can look at them and really get the full picture of what these things are there are only two issues I have with the visuals but only one of them actually matters and even then it's more personal opinion than anything else besides the monsters the set looks great the blizzard raging outside is the best kind of winter wonder lady you'd want to see in this type of film and when the characters get hurt or dirty they stay that way and continue to pick up damage and debris for the rest of the movie the atmosphere works just as well as the visual elements as previously stated moments of tension play very well moments of character development are given their due time and respect and whenever the man in the big black coat shows up he brings every feeling you should have seen that monster with him overall Krampus succeeded in something that no other film I've reviewed so far has done as well it was a very fun movie I thoroughly really enjoyed watching it and while it's not perfect and can't take a full claim in any of the three genres it's mixing it completely accomplishes what it means to do I enjoyed krump as much more than any other movie I sat down to watch in the last few months Krampus is just fun period it's a really fun time with a lot of awesome moments that just marvel at and its brand of fear is the carnival horror house kind that's just on the verge of not being allowed to let children inside you see Krampus is not a major horror film even though it gets hard so well it could have been so much scarier and more terrifying than it was but there's a very good reason it didn't do that and that would be its other two components the Christmas movie element and dark family comedy aspect Michael Dougherty had a massive challenge in balancing all three of these connecting pieces which normally would never go together and he succeeded in running an equal measure across all three but because of that none of those three have nearly enough power to make this movie tower above others in that specific genre from that field Krampus cannot be a major horror movie because power had to be slipped between the Christmas movie section and the dark comedy piece it can't be a huge Christmas movie because it has a giant horror element that marks it and it can't be a full dark comedy because so much time is needed to take care of all the other components while still making a strong film with characters you like so instead of smashing all competitors in one single genre Krampus actually makes its very own field and stands in it like a colossal Tower because of this I know a lot of hardcore horror fans and Christmas movie lovers aren't going to want to come inside but so so many viewers are going to thoroughly enjoy this for the truly unique experience it is and because you know it's just a damn good film and a really fun time the best comparison I can give is that no offense to Gil Keenan you like Michael Dougherty should actually be the one who directs the five nights at Freddy's movie because that's how this brand of horror made me feel it's creepy it's inappropriate and yeah it's kind of silly but it's still a lot of fun and despite its wide appeal it's not catering the kids or pulling any punches my criteria for rating films has changed after realizing just how much more legroom I actually needed in these reviews the better help viewers understand if this is a film for them and where a film wins or sings I pulled together five categories that compose a final judgment score the bonus of the vision score every film has a very specific idea they're going for a feeling and a concept something that is uniquely theirs the vision score rates a film on how well they did in making that vision happen for what they were specifically doing and before we begin I'd just like to nod my head to my good friend Reiser from the web comic relief here on YouTube he uses similar scoring criteria for his reviews of major web comics and it works very very well if you're into the webcomic scene definitely go check them out you will not regret it character in Krampus receives a 7 out of 10 these characters feel like legitimate people and it's good to see that happen for a full cast in a major film I enjoyed being with these characters they have some depth they experienced some development and the actors provide incidental information that furthers the experience however it could have gone deeper and provided better ground for really relating to these people making moments of monster attacks and emotional suffering that much more impactful for the audience story gets a 6 out of 10 its standard fare for where we're taken but detours really make it all more interesting and I enjoy stepping outside the house into Krampus is Blizzard fear receives a 7 out of 10 moments of tension are right where they need to be and Krampus minions are terrifying creatures this movie understands horror however even with the challenge of balancing all three levels this film had to carry there could have been a lot more punching power in the horror movie aspect if it had raised both fear and character with say a bit more story power thrown in it might have done better still this is a really great piece for horror fans without rages monsters style gets a very solid 9 out of 10 atmosphere and visuals are so good it's worth watching just the marvel at Krampus his creatures the blizzard and how the set develops changes and deteriorates through the action I loved how right the atmosphere felt at every given moment and the music and sound effects were so good still a couple of visual bits and maybe one moment of atmosphere that should have been played a bit straighter keep this from being a perfect score enjoyment is definitely an 8 out of 10 I never buy DVDs I'll never see a need to do so unless I feel a film is perfect to learn from or I truly need to own the film as a developing grader but Krampus I am going to buy the DVD for Krampus I made that decision walking out of the theater out of all the films I've reviewed so far I'll beat in the short time I've been doing this on my channel Krampus takes home the prize for best time at the movies I had so much fun watching this film and really really want my very own Krampus ornament the inability to pick up a few more horror and character points does keep this film from the top slot but Michael Dougherty has succeeded again knowing that he'll get to really let loose on the horror element soon with the sequel to trick-or-treat makes this experience even better and altogether the points come down to an average of seven point five out of ten I wish I could go back and revise my scores for films like the visit and sinister to enter this criteria because if this score was broken down to meet the format of five points Toralei had been going with I know it would look like Krampus in the visitar on equal ground and that's just not the case Krampus is the best film I've reviewed so far not a perfect film but extremely enjoyable the vision score receives an 8 out of 10 so so close to absolutely nailing the concept being presented in full at its highest quality but again those horror and character levels keep it from perfection I had a great time watching Krampus not everyone is going to have as high an opinion of the film as I am and I know that but then again something like Krampus is a very unique film with a very unique taste if you really enjoy trick-or-treat by Michael Dougherty you're going to love this if you watch The Nightmare Before Christmas recently and rediscovered love for it you'll probably love Krampus if you were unsure about seeing this film I hope I've helped in your decision and if you do go I sincerely hope you enjoy it as much or even more than I did thank you for viewing and remember to be good boys and girls this holiday season you've got a lot more than Santa Claus to worry about now you

Channel: Night Mind

Views: 85,653

Rating: 4.8950949 out of 5

Keywords: Krampus, Review (Media Genre), Film (Media Genre), Krampus movie, film, movie, what is, explained, legend, night mind, nick nocturne, Michael Dougherty (Film Director), Film Criticism (Literary School Or Movement), what, is, krampus

Id: 4ebj60gXk3c

Length: 19min 50sec (1190 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 06 2015