If “National
Lampoon's Christmas Vacation” and “Poltergeist” found each
other on Match.com and had reproduced it would be “Krampus.”
Unfortunately, it's not as, respectively, funny or as scary as it's
parentage. That isn't to say that “Krampus” isn't a fun
horror-comedy: it does feature fun special effects and a delightfully
twisted and dark tone; but it's the comedy aspect that needed a
little work. Oh and the characters. Like many horror films of the 80s
the film features some truly despicable people that we're forced to
watch kick the bucket in variously gruesome, albeit PG-13 friendly,
ways. It's really a decent effort as films like this are a rare beast
these days especially considering most of these movies are
pathetically relegated to what Netflix calls its horror section.
You wouldn't be
crazy if the film reminds you of the fun creature features 80s
directors like Joe Dante might have made in his heyday. In fact,
“Gremlins” comes so closely to mind that you sort of just wish
you were watching that. And that's mostly because of some of the
characters we're forced to identity with. Toni Collette and Adam
Scott are likeable as Sarah and Tom and they have a teenage daughter
and a younger son named Max (Chef's Emjay Anthony). Max is at that
age where he still believes in Santa even if he has to deal with the
naysayers. He's forced to spend Christmas vacation with his redneck
cousins. They include Sarah's sister Linda (Fargo's Allison Tolman)
and her husband Howard (perennial douche David Koechner) and their
seemingly infinite brood of selfish children. These aren't the
lovable doofs headed by Randy Quaid in “Vacation” films; Howard's
family is full of deplorable people. You'll wonder why Sarah, who
agrees that they're terrible, didn't disown them years ago, including
her equally obnoxious Aunt Dorothy played by Edward Scissorhands'
Conchata Ferrell. Not only are they horrible people, but worst of
all they're not at all interesting, which is a shame because besides Max's immediate family they're
the only characters in the film.
Max has a special
bond with his grandmother Omi (Krista Stadler) who tells everyone the
tale of Krampus once some creepy things start going on: the power
goes out during a particularly violent snowstorm. Beth goes missing
after she sets out to visit her boyfriend who lives a few blocks away
and then suddenly the family finds itself under attack by
increasingly creepy and mischievous holiday creatures including a
sadistic growing jack-in-the-box, wicked gingerbread men, and a
particularly evil Christmas wreath angel. These creatures are brought
to life in an amazing practical and computer-assisted detail; in fact
they're way more impressive than any of the other characters
writer/director Michael Dougherty (who co-wrote with Todd Casey and
Zach Shields) has come up with. He also makes his film extremely
dark; we're not talking particularly gory or bloody but this is
stuff that is made of nightmares. Weak children will most likely be
running for the doors.
“Krampus” feels
like a film that's made to be more appreciated than actually
well-liked. In this nostalgia-driven age of entertainment we long to
watch films to be “made like the used to be.” You really get what
Dougherty is going for her. Unfortunately, the horror is almost too
intense without the comedy being funny enough to counterbalance the
scares. Fortunately, it's all fun enough, especially it's inspired
opening credit sequence and an ending that took I'm sure took guts to
get green lit. Like another irreverent but uneven Christmas flick
made this year “The Night Before,” I'd much rather watch this
than anything with Bing Crosby. GRADE: B-
Trailer for Krampus on TrailerAddict.
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