Krampus: The Christmas Devil
As a child, police officer Jeremy Duffin (A.J. Leslie) was abducted, dragged in a sack and tossed into a frozen lake from which he managed to escape. It's thirty years later, and he still can't forget. Not to mention, he is convinced that the perpetrator of that crime is still out there, and every ten years he repeats the cycle. What's a cop gonna do?
Sure enough, it's happening again, and Jeremy has to do something about it. Christmas is almost upon them, and all children know that Santa wants them to be good. What they may not know is that the flip side of Santa, who deals with naughty children, is the Krampus. He's got a list.... and he knows how to use it. Where does he get that list? From Santa Claus, of course, his brother!
As if this isn't bad enough, a criminal that Jeremy put away, Brian Hatt (Bill Oberst Jr) has just been
released from prison after ten years, and of course he has revenge on his mind. Who wouldn't, right? Which puts not only Jeremy but his wife and daughter at risk. Unbeknownst to Jeremy, his daughter Heather (Samantha Hoepfl) has also made the top of Krampus' list! Which evil is he going to have to fight off first?
So, what can I say about this movie? I had high hopes for it which were quickly dashed. Right off the bat, the acting sucks. Big time. I've seen better acting from high school students. Granted, I'm sure they all tried, but they failed, rather miserably. The best acting I saw was from a minor character in the bar, and I forget his name. As bad as Jeremy is, the actress playing his wife was worse.
What else? Oh yes, the writing was horrible. Terrible script. And the fight scenes were badly choreographed and virtually non-existent. The action would always cut away so you wouldn't really see anything and would cut back so you could view the end result. The blood looks like strawberry syrup, btw, and not the good stuff.
Krampus himself is not scary. Weird, sure. Creepy? Definitely. He is holed up in a cave or something, and keeps a child in a cage. He also has a half naked woman chained to the wall that he likes to... play with. Seriously? Wth? Why even bring that up? He's a demon, right? I have no idea.
From the start, this movie is ridiculous and not the least bit scary. The scariest thing to me was wondering how this even got made, who wasted good money on making it. And why were there sequels? Guess I'll find out when I watch the next one. It has to be better, right? One can hope. On that basis, I'll give Krampus: The Christmas Devil 1 flimsy Star, and that is being generous. This isn't a horror movie, it's a horrible movie.
Krampus (2015)
Christmas is almost here, and it should be a time of great cheer! But young Max (Emjay Anthony) feels otherwise, since it means his horrible cousins and their parents are coming for the holiday. Mom Sarah (Toni Collette) and dad Tom (Adam Scott) are trying to be good-natured about it, because they are family, after all. But some people are just hard to take. And as if to make matters worse, Sarah's sister Linda (Allison Tolman) has brought along Aunt Dorothy (Conchata Ferrell). Can things get any worse?
Hell yes, it can.
It begins at dinner when Max's cousins reveal that they've found Max's letter to Santa Claus and proceed to read it in front of everyone, to Max's mortification. Lots of personal stuff in it regarding his family and theirs, and of course the two girls don't like what he's said about them. A fight ensues, and ends with Max taking refuge in his room. He takes the offending letter and tears it up, then throws it out his window, where it scatters to the winds.
It begins with a power outage. Although technically it began with the arrival of some unexpected gifts on the porch. Sitting in the dark is not how anyone had envisioned their Christmas. Max's sister Beth (Stefania LaVie Owen) is worried about her boyfriend, who lives nearby. Despite the weather, she gets permission to check on him, since he isn't responding to her texts. What she finds is horrifying, and as she attempts to race home, to safety, she sees some very strange things.
Meanwhile, back at the house, everyone huddles together in the living room for warmth in front of the
fireplace, attempting to sleep. But something strange is happening when a chain drops through the chimney, with a strange creature on it, which draws the attention of Max's cousin Howie Jr (Maverick Flack). The other wake up just in time to see him being sucked up the chimney.
This version of the Krampus legend is as different from the first one as night and day. This one has a solid cast, good writing, good direction, and an interesting story. Darkly humorous, it doesn't lag. I could easily identify with Max's parents, doing their best to get through the holidays despite having douchey relatives in the house. Tom's mother, whom they call Omi, is also there. She is Max's anchor, and she is the only one with a clue about what's happening.
The story is funny and also scary, it has a unique take on Christmas, and has all the elements of a good horror film. There are more sequels in this series and I intend to watch the ones I can find, except for the sequel to the first one. Same writer and cast, so I'm gonna just call it quits on that while I'm ahead, expecting nothing better. But I'll keep you posted on the others. I am giving Krampus (2015) a solid 4 Stars.
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