Krampus

Plot synopsis:
The movie opens with a montage of crazed customers storming into a store for their Christmas shopping, trampling over the store's employees before maniacally grabbing every hot item they can get their hands on, all to the tune of "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas". In the mall, we see two parents, Tom and Sarah Engel (Adam Scott and Toni Collette), run to their son Max (Emjay Anthony) as he is fighting with another child after this child spoke ill of Santa Claus to the other children. Max's sister Beth (Stefania LaVie Owen) gleefully films everything on her phone.The family returns home where Max's German grandmother Omi (Krista Stadler) is baking. Sarah continues working in the kitchen in anticipation of her sister and her family arriving. She is anxious, as is everyone else, but Sarah tries to keep the Christmas spirit alive in the house. She hangs up a picture of her family posing with Santa, but it's ruined by everyone looking uninterested and Santa checking out Beth's butt.Sarah's sister Linda (Allison Tolman) arrives with her husband Howard (David Koechner) and their kids - Howie Jr (Maverick Flack), Stevie (Lolo Owen), Jordan (Queenie Samuel), and Baby Chrissy, along with the family dog Rosie. Also joining them, to Sarah's extreme displeasure, is their Aunt Dorothy (Conchata Ferrell), whom Sarah considers to be a nightmare. The family gathers for dinner, where Howard takes the time to boast about his use of guns, despite Linda telling him not to bring that up. Dorothy insults Sarah's cooking, so Sarah goes to get the dessert in the kitchen, where Dorothy follows her to make more complaints until Sarah shuts her up. Stevie and Jordan mock Max for still writing a letter to Santa. They swiped it off of him and start reading off Max's wishes. He wants his parents to be in love again, for him and Beth to spend time like they used to, and for things to go better between Linda and Howard. Stevie gets angry when she reads that Max wrote that Howard wishes she and Jordan were boys. Max loses it and fights Stevie to get the letter back. He yells at the whole family and says he wishes Christmas was like it used to be, but now he hates the holiday and his dysfunctional family before running back upstairs.Tom goes upstairs to comfort his son and remind him that this is the time of year where they have to deal with family members like this. After Tom leaves, Max puts his Santa letter into an envelope, but he is too angry to go through with it and he tears up the letter. He throws the pieces out the window, which are then blown up high into the sky. A dark cloud then forms over the whole neighborhood, followed by a strong gust of wind that takes out the power.The next morning, the whole family is struggling without heat and electricity as a snowstorms blows through the area. Max looks out the window and notices a creepy snowman having been built in front of the house. Someone knocks on the door and Linda answers it to find a delivery guy bringing some boxes. Next to him is a sack of gifts, but he claims it didn't come from him. Beth suggests that she walk a few blocks to her boyfriend Derek's house to see if he has power (and also so she won't be stuck with the family). Although Sarah is hesitant, she and Tom allow Beth to go out for an hour.Beth walks through the storm and sees a large horned creature perched on top of a roof. The sky becomes darker, and the creature appears to follow Beth. She runs away as the creature pounces across rooftops. Beth finds the delivery guy literally frozen in fear. She hides underneath his truck as the creature lands on the ground, where Beth sees its hooves. To her side, she sees a jack-in-the-box playing a tune. It opens and a smaller creature emerges slowly before attacking Beth.As it gets darker, Tom and Sarah become concerned when Beth doesn't return. Howard agrees to go out with Tom in his Hummer to find her, and Howard gives Tom a gun to carry just in case. They go to Derek's house and find it unoccupied and wrecked. The two see large hoofprints in the snow. They go back outside and Tom hears Beth screaming. He runs to find her, only for something burrowing underneath the snow to grab Howard. It nearly drags him beneath the snow until Tom shoots at the creature and sends it fleeing. They find the Hummer has been destroyed and they run home. The ladies tend to Howard's leg, which appears to have a bite mark on it. Omi is seen looking nervous by the fireplace. Tom says they need to board up the house and look for Beth in the morning.The adults decide to take turns keeping watch for anything suspicious. Howard volunteers to stay awake while Tom rests with his family. Howard also apologizes to Tom for thinking he was always a "spineless dick". Eventually, everyone falls asleep and the fire goes out. A hook descends from the chimney with a gingerbread man cookie tied to it. This awakens Howie Jr. He goes over to the cookie and takes a bite out of its head, only for the gingerbread man to come to life and frighten Howie. The hook wraps around Howie and starts pulling him up the tree. Sarah wakes up and runs to grab the boy, with the rest of the adults grabbing her for help. Sarah accidentally kicks a hot log toward the Christmas tree, igniting the presents and then the whole tree. Max runs to get the fire extinguisher and puts out the fire, but Sarah gets freaked out by the cookie, causing her to let go of Howie, and he is taken up the chimney.Now convinced that something unnatural is occurring, Omi speaks English for the first time to tell the family that she knows who is doing this, and that this is all their fault. She says she experienced the same thing as a child. Through an animated sequence, we see Omi as a little girl in her old poverty-stricken village. She was holding a toy Santa and a loaf of bread, but the other villagers snatched the bread from her and fought each other for it. When Omi returned home, her parents didn't help matters through their own bad behavior, and her mother ripped the Santa doll. Omi lost her holiday spirit and threw the doll in the fireplace after wishing that her parents would go away. This wish would summon an ancient spirit that arrives to punish anyone that disrespected the Christmas spirit. the spirit's name is Krampus, and he brings multiple helpers to terrorize the misbehaved. Omi watched as Krampus and his helpers dragged her parents to their underworld, with Krampus leaving her with nothing but a bauble with his name on it as a reminder of what she's done. Omi shows the family the bauble, and to this day, she has regretted making that wish. Howard remains unconvinced that this is the work of some supernatural entity, and he grabs his shotgun to go out and find Howie. As he opens the door, he discovers a snowman with a close resemblance to Howie on the front porch. Several demonic creatures lurk behind the snowmen, and Sarah pulls Howard back inside the house.Tom devises a plan to get to the snowplow with the family and head to the mall for shelter. Meanwhile, Stevie and Jordan think they hear what sounds like Beth's voice coming from upstairs. They walk up to investigate, but then the adults hear the girls screaming. Tom, Sarah, and Linda run up to the attic and notice that the kids' presents had something burst out of them. They then come across an enormous, worm-like Jack-in-the-Box in the process of swallowing Jordan whole. Tom shoots it, causing it to flee towards the vents, where it later escapes. The adults then get attacked by demonic toys. Sarah faces her mother's angel ornament that nearly hangs her with Christmas lights, Linda is jumped by an evil teddy bear, and Tom is attacked by a robot toy. Downstairs, Howard gets shot with a nail gun by three gingerbread men. Linda sees Stevie in the next room, driving her to grab an icicle and stab the teddy in the eye. She grabs a hatchet and swings at the angel and robot before running to Stevie. Sarah gets Howard's gun and shoots the robot to pieces. Howard shoots a lantern that burns the cookies, only for one to survive and pounce toward him, but Rosie eats it.The family goes downstairs to the living room where Max sends Rosie into the ventilation shaft to combat the clown, but the dog is consume by it off-screen. The Jack-in-the-Box clown suddenly crashes through the ceiling into the living room. Before Howard can kill it, the teddy and cherub leap down from the hole in the ceiling to attack once more. Dorothy takes the shotgun and kills the teddy and angel, but before she can finish off the clown, a group of dark elves break into the house. They take Dorothy and Chrissy, while Howard is lost when he grabs onto the clown's tail as it is sucked out through the hole in the wall. A loud thumping is heard on the roof, signifying the arrival of Krampus and causing the elves to flee. Omi stays behind while Tom, Sarah, Linda, Max, and Stevie escape. Omi then comes face-to-face with Krampus, who looks like a demonic Santa Claus with a long tongue. He opens his sack in front of Omi, and a gruesome-looking nutcracker soldier grabs her and pulls her inside.The family heads toward the snowplow, only for the creature in the snow to attack again. It first takes Tom before also getting Linda and Sarah. Max and Stevie get into the snowplow. Max tries to start it, but the elves attack and take Stevie. Max runs after her and he is faced by Krampus. He hands Max his torn-up letter that is wrapped around a bauble similar to what he gave Omi. This leads Max to realize that it's his fault that Krampus arrived. He follows the demons to a spot where they are preparing to take Stevie. Max calls to Krampus and throws the bauble back toward him. It sinks in the snow and opens up a massive hole in the earth that leads to the underworld. The elves hold Stevie over it until Max tells Krampus that he knows it's his fault that Krampus is there, and he offers to take Stevie's place. Krampus wipes Max's tear with his claw, but he and the elves start laughing as they throw Stevie into the hole. Krampus grabs Max and holds him over the hole. Max says he only wishes Christmas could be like it used to be. Krampus drops a screaming Max into the hole.Max then wakes up and finds himself in his room, and it's now Christmas Day. He goes downstairs and sees the whole family together, looking more happy and peaceful than they did a few days ago. They start to open presents, and Max hugs his parents, thinking the whole ordeal was just a bad dream. He then opens his gift to find the Krampus bauble, and suddenly everyone has an ominous look on their faces as their memories of the horrific events slowly come back to them. The camera pans out revealing that either the family is being watched through a snow globe by Krampus, along with hundreds of others in his collection, or are now held prisoner for all eternity by the evil Krampus.The evil toys then appear for one last jump scare.

Tags: paranormal

Review:
One child named Max wants to continue the family's Christmas traditions, but tensions between members of the family keep everyone from having a good time and the family lose their Christmas spirit, especially Max, who rips up his letter to Santa and throws it to the wind after his cousins read it out at the dinner table Shortly afterwards, a severe blizzard appears and cuts out power in the entire town and Christmas will never be the same.
Krampus himself looks fantastic being made entirely of practical effects and carries a great presence in may opinion he is a classic horror villain in the making.
Plot: A boy who has a bad Christmas ends up accidentally summoning a Christmas demon to his family home.This was a fun movie to watch, the kind of film I've been wanting to see done with much love and respect to the fans of the genre.
I first heard of the story of Krampus from a Christmas episode of American Dad!, and I've been surprised that none of the reviews I watched online for this film mentioned that since it's the one of the only times Krampus is mentioned in pop culture.
The other problem I had with the film was with the editing during the scenes with Krampus' helpers, because it was quite jumpy and made it hard to see everything going on the entire time.Again, this is a good movie.
A young boy (Emjay Anthony) loses the hope and spirit of Christmas because the holidays aren't the same as they used to be with his family and proceeds to destroys a letter he wrote to Santa Claus triggering the release of a massive blizzard and the summoning of the titular Christmas folklore demon who strikes against the family and it isn't alone.From 2007's Trick 'r Treat director and screenwriter Michael Dougherty, this is the second holiday themed horror film he has done.
My favourite would easily be Black Christmas (1974) in my life as one of cinema's most underrated slashers of the 1970's with one of the most bone chilling endings in a horror film and Gremlins, enough said.
However, this is movie besides Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale are the greatest modern X-MAS horror films of recent times considering I was making fun of the title alone and thought it would be TV movie quality.
The results altered once the film began.The setup is a brilliant throwback to the stereotypical mean-spirited family from Christmas Vacation and Home Alone and a great satire on consumerism taking over the holidays with a riot at a Shopping Mall with "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas" by Bing Crosby in the background.
It breathe a sequel that could happen.Still, I'll consider this during a time where most expensive Horror films are underwhelming unintentional comedies with ugly third rate CGI, Dougherty and his crew decided to continue the practical dream to us Horror fans and brought us a dark and fun early Christmas gift!
Still, the actors give it 100%: Adam Scott and Toni Collette as Maxs' parents, David Koechner as the gun loving uncle, Conchata Ferrell as the grumpy great aunt, and Krista Stadler as the wise grandmother who knows the score, right from the start.A solid diversion overall, with some groan inducing dialogue and moments but quite a bit of energy & pizazz and a twisted nature.Seven out of 10..
There are only a few horror/comedy mix moments allowing a dark tone for the movie without being too outlandish.The only problems I had was with the lack of subtitles and need for Max/Tom to translate for the German grandma and the ending will give you mixed feelings.
I don't think any of the critics that I stumbled across had more than one or two kind words for Krampus, and that seems like a disservice to me because this film isn't bad -- in fact, it's really good.
If you aren't bothered with a PG-13 Horror movie, or are willing to wait for the unrated version, strongly consider watching it." For those of you who watched the trailers put out for Krampus, I'm sure that the beginning of film didn't hold much in the way of surprises for you.
Since we are talking about a Horror movie, this sort of thing can only ever lead to curses or monsters; and sure enough, Max's ill feelings draw down the ire of Krampus: a Germanic spirit whose job is to punish those who are on the Naughty section of Santa's list.
Dougherty did similar things with creature design in Trick 'r Treat, and it really pays off in this movie with evil clowns, elves, dolls, and pretty much anything else you can think of that's vaguely Christmas related.
There are some scenes which pay a certain amount of homage to movies like Evil Dead, but nothing I saw struck me as being intended in a comical light; in fact, the only reason that I can fathom for people believing that Krampus is partially a comedy is that there were rumors circulating around the Web to that affect.
Greetings from Lithuania."Krampus" (2015) is sometimes kinda pretty creepy, sometimes a little scary, sometimes a little funny movie that eventually gets boring by trying to be different and by doing that, it quickly becomes very average.
There is nothing in it that you would like to return for a second viewing and nothing that you would be glued to your screen during first viewing.Overall, "Krampus" tries to be scary and kinda original Cristmas movie, and sometimes it succeeds, but mostly it doesn't by the end i didn't care what will happen to one or another two dimensional character.
Michael Doughtery, who directed "Trick R Treat", brings a rather offbeat but overall enjoyable concept to his latest film based on the Alpine folk legend, "Krampus".Krampus stars a very talented cast, featuring Toni Colette and Adam Scott in the lead roles, David Koechner, Alison Tolman and Cochenta Farrell in supporting roles, and Emjay Anthony as the heart of the story, Max. Max is a young boy who has lost his Christmas spirit when he family becomes more and more distant from each other and have pretty much given up on Christmas.
The minions of Krampus are incredibly creatively designed; an intimidating crew of atmospheric yet useless snowmen, a stabby robot toy, a creepy Christmas angel, and, possibly best of all, a snake-like jack-in-the-box that swallows children whole.
Another wickedly entertaining horror-comedy from Michael Dougherty, "Krampus" is a great throwback to 80's cheese and holiday-horror classics like "Gremlins"!.
Yet also a sub-genre that paves the way for some of the most wickedly entertaining and genre-bending classics of all time- just take a look at "Gremlins" or "Evil Dead II" for some of the finest examples of horror-comedy done right.And for this fan of horror and of horror-comedy, "Krampus" is definitely a wonderful new treat.
Especially as, just like "Gremlins", it's not only a horror-comedy, but also a prime example of a holiday-themed horror-comedy done near-perfectly, save for a few issues here and there.Director Michael Dougherty is certainly no stranger to either sub- genre- his previous directorial effect (the excellent "Trick 'R Treat") also fit into both categories and is arguably the best Halloween- themed horror flick of the past several decades with its savage sense of humor and some genuine eerie thrills.
and to top it off, he has to contend with his irritating extended family who have come to spend Christmas with he and his parents.After a disastrous diner, Max loses all faith in the holiday spirit, and tears up a letter he had written to Santa Claus, casting it out of the window, unaware that his actions will summon a dark force- the "Shadow of Saint Nicholas"- "Krampus." Now, Max and his family (under the guidance of his elderly German grandmother played by Krista Sadler) will have to struggle against Krampus and his legions of demonic toys, killer-gingerbread-men and freakish devil- elves to survive.The success of the film really does fall back on Dougherty and his expert blending of both broad and specific types of humor in addition to a few genuinely creepy set-pieces, and the wonderful casting of the film that lends to all characters- even an irritatingly uber-conservative gun-nut uncle played by David Koechner (frankly a character you'd usually love to hate)- being inherently likable and enjoyable to root for as they deal with the onslaught of Christmas-chaos.There's also plenty of great callbacks to old-fashioned 80's cheese and wonderful old film standards of the holiday and holiday-horror genres, which give the film great character in and of itself.
Particularly notable is an animated flashback sequence explaining the character of Krampus that is done in such a style to invoke notes and feelings of those old, schmatlzy Rankin-Bass stop-motion Christmas specials.Though despite how wonderfully entertaining and stylish the film often is, it does have a few issues.
'Krampus' is a comedy horror film that isn't very funny or scary.
Great actors / characters, great pacing, amazing visual effects, nothing looked cheesy, or too CGI filled, We're given a great plot design, as well as unique aspects, and to top it all off we're given an excellent blend of comedy, as well as horror.
The trailer did a great job of making the movie look like it was going to be good (somehow).
Listen, i don't know a lot about Michael Dougherty other than he made ''Trick R Treat'' a good fantasy-horror film divided in three stories, and it was done in a great way that it makes Tales from the Crypt look like something written by a child.Here, 2015 surprise of the year to me with ''The Guest'' and ''The Gift'' this year, is ''Krampus''.
oh my god give us sequels Dougherty !!!!Adam Scott, Toni Collette, David Koechner and the always great and underrated Conchata Ferrell (Two and a Half Men) stars in this horror-comedy-suspense-fantasy film you did not know you have to seen this year !
A dysfunctional family gathers for Christmas, when the Christmas spirit is dead, Krampus comes to punish the naughty.Writer/Director Michael Dougherty (Trick R Treat) brings us this fun flick.
Although it's still a satisfying Christmas horror film from Michael Dougherty, Krampus is a bit disappointing..
As Krampus lays siege to the Engel home, Max and his family must band together to save one another from a monstrous fate.After all the B-movie treatment that this German folklore has gotten, he has finally got the treatment he deserves with Trick 'r' Treat writer and director, Michael Dougherty, a man who knows how to treat horror with good care.
It was surely a fun throwback to 80's & 90's horror films like Gremlins and even though it isn't all that on par with Trick 'r' Treat, Dougherty still did a satisfying job..
The horror comedy "Krampus" (PG-13, 1:38) is 2015's most high-profile (but not its only) cinematic embodiment of the legendary character, and is, in fact, part of a growing trend.Tom and Sarah (Adam Scott and Toni Colette) have an upper middle-class suburban family living in an unnamed city, likely in the Midwest.
The movie opens with a funny, but random and awkwardly-staged slow motion Black Friday-type scene, set to Bing Crosby's joyous rendition of "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas".
Meanwhile, if horror comedies and/or evil central European holiday characters are your thing, you just might enjoy "Krampus".
The film careens haphazardly from horror to comedy and back again (or not), sacrificing pretty much everything along the way: laughs, scares, tension and stakes.Workaholic Tom (Scott) and uptight Sarah (Collette) are readying their house and home for the annual holiday descent of family members they'd much rather avoid.
Disillusioned by his family's bickering, Max makes a wish that draws upon his house an evil spirit (and his Christmassy minions) that comes straight out of Germanic folklore and the nightmares of Omi (Krista Stadler), Max's grandmother.Right from the outset, Krampus establishes an almost dour tone that makes it tough for writer-director Michael Dougherty to effectively dial up the comedy later on.
"Krampus" feels like a mixture between the comedy classic "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" (dysfunctional family spending the holiday period together) and the Dutch horror flick "Sint" (demolishing the image of children's heroes), and the result is a fast-paced, atmospheric and beautiful film.
The real appeal of the film is it's trying to be a campy horror film in a time of Christmas, where we see creepy practical effect monsters, designed with the festivity of the holidays.
Krampus is a horror/comedy Christmas film.
Most of the movie isn't that good.After seeing Krampus for the first time, nothing is as scary as that moment.
When its a family scene it is just that and the same goes for horror too.If you can get past it, you will have a movie full of good performances (especially Toni's one), great end and some pretty creepy monsters.Not recommended for a family viewing, but you can watch it with your friends during Christmas period..
Movie Review: "Krampus" (2015)The opening as commercial as can be with an army of consumers storming a department store for holiday season shopping, giving in to the madness, the money spending, the elbow practice of the fastest to catch the best of pieces to bring home, where the chaos continues in the everybody's family who seek the pleasant evening with a roaring fire inside and snow-covered exteriors of cushioned silence in quiet town neighborhood, when 10-year-old Max, grandmother's darling, tears up his wish list to throw out the window, a blizzard rises with nowhere to run but besieging the living room, which comes eventually invaded by the shadow of "Sankt Nikolaus" and his dark-side turned elves to open the gates of the underworld.
Much like Michael Dougherty's directorial debut "Trick 'r Treat," which has gone on to embed itself as a contemporary Halloween classic, one can hardly fault "Krampus" for trying to interject some life and memorability into the forgotten formula of Christmas horror that was ostensibly left for dead in the 1990's.
Cross that with a cast of proved comedic talents, such as Adam Scott, Toni Collette, and "Two and a Half Men"'s Conchata Ferrell, and you ostensibly have a genre hybrid that attempts to restore the magic of Christmas scares.The sad part is that "Krampus" is the kind of film that feels like lightning will strike and it will, all of a sudden, be a strong piece of comedy/horror without having to rely on storytelling or genuine scares in order to be successful.
Dougherty and cinematographer Jules O'Loughlin do their best to give us sporadic ideas into the physical appearance of Krampus while making him a visual enigma, keeping the audience, at the very least, in-tuned and interested in what Krampus looks to be.But around the forty-five minute mark, when we haven't seen too much, we don't really know too much, and there isn't much to keep us invested other than what the titular demon truly looks like, "Krampus" goes from being a silly comedy-drama about a family not getting along (I already had to endure "Love the Coopers" last month) to a wild and cluttered horror film full of noise and narrative obscurities.
Starts out with 20 minutes of genuinely unfunny 'comedy' (I use that term lightly when it comes to this movie) then gets more promising as it manage to create a somewhat spooky atmosphere but just when you think they are gonna get it right they ruin it.Michael Dougherty attempts at recreate what made 'Trick R Treat' a hit which basically means put in as many different baddies as possible and hope that people will feel that they got their 'bang...
Nothing like a good scare to get you in the holiday spirit.A dysfunctional family who don't like each other too much and has lost their holiday spunk, get a visit for a mischievous evil that comes when you make it onto Santa's Naughty list.It's very unique and it's very imaginative as the film makers use more on camera style effects to create the monsters in the movie.
This movie its more important i think than most in that respect.Good for the family, they will likely be OK watching it a 2nd time..
The film is a well made, and effective horror flick; but it's just a little too slow- paced, for my taste.Max (Anthony) has always loved, and believed in, Christmas; but this year he's started to lose his 'festive spirit'.
By doing this, he unwittingly calls a terrifying Christmas demon, called Krampus, and it's twisted helpers.The movie is darkly funny, in places, but it's never as humorous, as I was expecting it to be (especially given the cast); it's a pretty straightforward horror flick actually!
I suspect that this is one movie that they had fun filming.I had heard of Krampus before watching this.
Many Christmas horror movies are slashers so Krampus makes a good alternative.
I certainly would not call Krampus a classic Festive horror movie but it is better than many others, I enjoyed it..
Most of its "horror scenes" are sadly filmed in dark, so its hard to follow what happens most of the time in the movie.
but overall a good christmas movie for all horror lovers.
Krampus is a film that deserves a watch because of its good cast , directing , music and effects..but it's not a horror comedy movie as it was expected...it only has 2-3 moments that makes you laugh a little but that's all..it's more like a fantasy movie that you can put to your 10 year old kid to terrify it if it's not in a Christmas mood...
It's not funny so isn't a comedy, it's not scary enough to be a horror, it's too childish to be for adults but too slow and sweary to be for children.because of this most of the movie is pretty bad, it just doesn't know what it's doing, but it's got a good cast and everything looks good.