Day 20 - Krampus - October Horror Movie Challenge

KRAMPUS (2015)

Saint Nicholas is not coming this year. Instead, a much darker, ancient spirit. His name is Krampus. He and his helpers did not come to give, but to take. He is the shadow of Saint Nicholas...

A dysfunctional family that has fallen apart over the years is getting ready for Christmas. The father, Tom is constantly away with work, the mother Sarah is high strung, the teenage daughter Beth is dreading spending time with them, and the young son Max is acting out.

Max still believes in Santa and this year he writes a special letter to him pleading to bring his family back together. His Omi is the only one who understands what he's going through and she tries to keep up the Christmas traditions while the rest of the family bicker.

When Sarah's sister arrives with her family everything kicks off. The sister, Linda and her husband Howard have four out of control kids and they've also brought along Aunt Dorothy. When they all sit down for dinner everyone is incredibly ungrateful and all begin fighting. The two daughters of Linda steal Max's letter to Santa and read it out loud to the table and Max, incredibly upset, rips up the letter and throws it out the window.

He's done. He doesn't believe in Christmas anymore and he's given up hope on his family.

The next morning they wake up to an incredible snow storm and no power. Beth goes out to check on her boyfriend who lives a few houses away and when she doesn't return, the family begins to panic. But what are those noises they keep hearing on the roof? What's attacking everyone in the snow? Where did those mysterious snowmen come from?  And does Omi know more than she's letting on?

Alright...what did I love about this movie?

• The practical effects were phenomenal and no matter how goofy it all got, the monsters were still pretty terrifying. The elves were serving some Christmas purge realness.
• Krampus isn't revealed until the very end which creates so much tension just waiting to finally see him. When you do, it doesn't let you down - they don't even fully reveal him and leave so much up to your own imagination. He's terrifying.
• The acting was well done in this, you could really see your own family in this sort of situation, especially around the dinner table.
• The animated flashback from Omi was beautiful and creepy and very well done. It felt so old school folk lore-ish.
• I think the overall message is pretty great. I kind of wish Krampus was real. OR IS HE?!

What I didn't love?

• The movie started out taking itself seriously and then there's this switch that happens where it becomes very over the top and goofy. It took a little while to adjust yourself while watching it. But once you do, you can continue to enjoy it.

Overall?

I have wanted to watch this movie since last year and I'm so happy to finally have watched it. I had very high expectations and it delivered. All of the monsters were so fun and I kind of want action figure versions of all of them so I can cover my home with them.

Even though I lived in Germany for four years and heard many European folk tales, I never heard about Krampus, which is sad because I would've been all over that. The folk tale is so great and I love how violent it is. Krampus shoves bad kids into his sack and beats them. I mean...COME THROUGH VIOLENT SANTA! Props to Michael Dougherty (also gave us Trick 'r Treat) for bringing back this folk lore and now causing a tone of rip off movies to follow suit.

Basically this has all the tropes of a regular Christmas movie, and if you removed Krampus it could be sold as such. But this is the horror genre, and nothing is safe. They do an amazing job of keeping the spirit of a Christmas movie (goofy family mad at each other and ruining Christmas) and teaching us the valuable lesson of loving your family and not losing the meaning of Christmas. Because Krampus will break through your fireplace and send you into the depths of the underworld.

10/10

I'm two days behind again because I spent Thursday night crafting my Lucille bat for my Negan Halloween costume and watching The Great British Bake Off. Last night I watched Fox's remake of Rocky Horror which premiered on Thursday. It was alright....Laverne Cox was a god send as usual but why the fuck did they change the songs? Like...let's take the two most famous and popular songs from this beloved cult classic and change the way it sounds.
Stupid.

Any way, off I go to watch two more horror movies and get back on track!

Stay Spooky!