New holiday horror film frightens kids to be nice
December 25, 2015
The tag line for “You don’t want to be on his list” perfectly sums up the new holiday horror film Krampus.
It starts out slow at the beginning as an ordinary family enjoys the Christmas season. It’s totally a cliché Christmas movie until a weird blizzard blows in and a strange figure appears on top of the family’s house, changing the tone from cheer to fright.
Throughout the rest of the film the family must contend with Krampus’ twisted toys, popping out of nowhere and bringing terror to the holidays. The film takes a different spin on Christmas, showing bad kids getting punished instead of good kids getting presents. The story is based on German folk tales about the Krampus figure, which was used to scare kids to be good before Christmas. Everything is fine with the family, in the movie Krampus, until a family argument causes little Max to tear up his letter to Santa and lose his Christmas spirit.
In German, Krampus, means “claw,” evident in the character’s depiction in the movie. In Germany, people celebrate Krampus by dressing up as the creature and scaring their children, teaching them to be nice and not naughty or their will be consequences. While most other regions do not tell the tale of Krampus, it is gaining some popularity in the United States.
Krampus is supposedly known as a beastly devil that is half goat and half human. Krampus scares the children with a whip and scary presents telling kids to better themselves before Christmas comes or they will get a pack of coal.
In a video interview with Dread Central, Director Michael Dough said he didn’t want to make a typical Christmas film and was inspired to make the story of the Krampus. Dough said he hopes to bring the tradition of Krampus to more Americans with a movie.
Little does the family know that this action would cause a very monstrous creature to teach them a lesson. The family did not believe in the tall tale until Krampus appeared to them. The family must stay together and find a way to protect each other from the creature and his little toy minions. But in order to do that they must avoid Krampus. Remember Krampus is always there and watching.
Krampus is a great movie for horror and comedy. It’s great for horror film junkies, but not for your ordinary Christmas lover movies.
Since, more Americans are getting aware of the tradition many are starting to celebrate it. Some parents put coals in their kids stockings, telling them that next year they better be nice and not naughty. Although the tall tale seemed like a good idea to him, Dough wanted to get the reactions of a test audience first to see if Krampus was really a good idea to make into a full length film. He was impressed with the reactions he got from the audience.
I would rate Krampus 5 out of 10. It’s really cheesy and slow at the beginning, failing to catch attention early in the film. I would follow the PG-13 rating guidelines and not show it to young children. However, adults who like to see the monsters that goes bump at night, might enjoy it.
