Wednesday 19 October 2016

Halloweenie Review: Krampus (2015)

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October is Halloweenie month here at Flick Chicks, the month that Jenna and I put on our big girl pants and force ourselves to sit through a few horror movies. You can read more about it in our announcement post here!

Upon realising that Jenna and I don’t live close enough to watch every single scary movie together, I think I fell into my comfort zone a bit, Christmas movies! Krampus (2015) was originally going to be the movie of choice for my family’s annual ‘weekend before Christmas’ cinema trip, until I managed to convince them it was by no means a movie for children, and hey, perhaps we should see The Force Awakens instead?! I have since happily reported back to my Mum she would not have survived this movie.

Krampus is exactly what you think it is. One Christmas Eve, a young boy has a hard time understanding why his family have to get together every year when they clearly can’t stand each other, and in his anger, he accidentally summons a horde of Christmas demons to his home, led by none other than Krampus himself.

The opening scene to this movie might just be my favourite of any festive films I’ve seen. The contrast of the beautiful music “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” with the chaotic, hellish scenes of the rush before the big day, screaming children sat on the laps of miserable mall Santas, people barging others out of the way to finish their shopping, it was so well done. The movie also stars some of my favourite faces from TV, Adam Scott (Parks and Recreation), Allison Tolman (Fargo) and David Koechner (The Office) so I had plenty to look forward to.


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As funny as it was, the first chunk of the movie felt like a poor man’s National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, but nonetheless, I enjoyed it. I’m a sucker for a cheesy festive flick. It’s actually easy to forget that you’re watching a horror, that it, until a once hopeful letter to Santa gets torn up and thrown out of the window. From there, it’s a fast paced, adrenaline fuelled ride to hell. It’s quite jumpy in parts, especially the scenes outside in the blizzard, but I got used to it after a while. Watching the movie through a layer of cardigan sure helps.

I do have a few issues with Krampus. It’s described as a Horror Comedy, but it doesn’t blend the two genres well at all. The first half is pure comedy, the second part is pure horror, but that cheesy kind of horror that makes you laugh because it’s a bit well, bad. Perhaps that’s what the team was going for, but it felt off to me. The characters were scary enough, that’s for sure. It’ll be a while before I forget that teddy bear’s face!


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If you can see past the corny one liners, Krampus is actually quite enjoyable. It also has quite a sentimental lesson behind it, and although it felt rushed, I enjoyed the ending. It wasn’t as ‘happily ever after’ as I expected it to be. 

11 comments:

  1. I had forgot about this movie. I think I should see it. I don't mind corniness if its funny. SOunds like this one (while not perfect) still has fun moments.

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    1. Oh it's definitely worth a watch at some point! It's a good movie for those weeks in between Halloween and Christmas :)
      - Allie

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  2. This one has been on my to-watch-list for quite a while now! It's particularly interesting for me as the whole Krampus thing actually comes from Austria!

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    1. Oooh this should be a must watch for you then! They do go into the Krampus' history in this which is quite interesting, or it was for me at least :)
      - Allie

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  3. I think I need to take movie advice from your mom!

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    1. I love her to pieces, but one of her favourite movies from last year was San Andreas. She loved it for all the wrong reasons, bless her.
      - Allie

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  4. I DVR'd this when it was on HBO, but I haven't watched it yet. Hopefully it's stupid fun. Great review!

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    1. Definitely worth a watch this Christmas, when it's dark and stormy out and...oooh no thanks that's all a bit too scary for me now.
      - Allie

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  5. I saw it last December in cinema because I love mythological creature and it was so cool Krampus finally got his movie...but they didn't even show hm without the mask off! Regardless it was fun and I loved all those actors from TV especially Conchata Farell who plays the sassy maid on Two and the Half Men. I agree it didn't quite blend the comedy and horror well but it was entertaining enough and I loled so hard when those creepy elves hugged

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    1. They definitely could have made it a lot scarier, but I enjoyed the comedy element! Honestly, get a bunch of my favourite TV faces together and I'll watch them in anything. That's what got me watching Cooties last year!
      - Allie

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  6. I had big fun watching this one. Think I'm going to revisit it before Christmas.

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