Krampus

Christmas home invasion creature feature black comedy with an excellent snowy backdrop. Dougherty fuses German folklore and American genre traditions into a sufficiently entertaining mix in which children are devoured and the titular devil doesn't grow tiresome thanks to a late entry. Formal finesse, good actors and unobtrusive film references are sometimes enough to satisfy, especially at Christmas. 70 % (2022-12-16)

The movie left much to be desired. Within the first few minutes, a sense of irritation crept over me, only to be replaced by sheer boredom once the mindless herd was gone. It became clear that there was no one to root for, as each family member seemed either unlikable or left me indifferent. Any attempt at comedy felt like a feeble imitation of Griswold's Christmas, stripped of all its humor by the three(!!!) screenwriters. Horror was notably absent. In the end, it amounted to little more than a background for mundane household chores. / Lesson learned: Ben Affleck's knack for facial expressions could make him an excellent Krampus. (2023-12-23)

I’ve never seen a film centered around Christmas that predominantly functions as a horror, but here we have the first one that fits into that category. It starts off quite comedic, and you might wonder what you've gotten yourself into, but it gradually intensifies until it becomes a full-fledged horror. The cast is quite good, and the overall German mythology revolving around Krampus left a deep impression on me; you definitely don’t want him to visit your home, as it doesn’t bode well for you. The story was predictable, but the atmosphere was sometimes almost palpable. I was slightly annoyed by the sense of the studio presence in some scenes, but mostly it was an authentic experience enhanced by practical effects, which I appreciate from time to time (of course, the scenes with animated gingerbread cookies are computer-generated, but at least they were entertaining). Krampus struck the fear in me that he was supposed to. The intense ending, where characters started dying off like on a conveyor belt, was surprising, as was the final twist, which each viewer can interpret differently. It will never be a blockbuster, but as a Christmas-themed horror film, it will always have a place with me. I give it 75%. (2017-12-14)

Krampus isn’t what I was dreaming of when the project was announced, but even the way it is, it’s not able to reach to the TOP. Which doesn’t mean that it is a bad movie. This time, Dougherty has done with Christmas the same he did a couple of years ago with Halloween, a nice and atmospheric horror comedy, where the humour, as well as the fear and the tension are effective in each of the sequences. But it’s just not completely outstanding in any way. If it’d stayed only with Krampus and his elves, it would have been better, IMHO. The living gifts are more or less cool, but the bloody living gingerbread men are already too much. And I was also surprised with how fast everything ends. In a only couple of minutes about half the characters are reduced in uninteresting ways, to the point that I felt as if the creators already wanted to get rid of them, but didn’t feel like writing another twenty minutes of script. 70% and I would love to see a gritty German Alpine prequel. (2015-12-24)

A future Christmas classic, but one that is so audience-friendly that it will play at 7pm after Home Alone. Krampus is lively and has a likeable and entertaining cast, especially the boorish David Koechner who steals up all the jokes for himself and gets away with it. The atmosphere is properly Christmassy, and quite dense by the end, and the varied selection of villains is surprising, the great imagination of the people behind this movie cannot be denied, even if they are largely Christmas candy and toys, and Krampus himself, who is more like a wrinkly grandfather, is a nevertheless a successful and original creation. The film is more of a comedy and fairytale than horror, the characters do die quite often, but due to the rating we don't get to see gore and the scares are actually absent as well, they scares don't really work out too well, but it's a nice oldschool fun film to watch with honest practical effects. Home Alone crossed with Gremlins! Story 5/10, Atmosphere 7/10, Gore 0/10, Visuals 7/10, Action 5/10, Suspense 7/10, Humor 7/10. Entertainment 7/10. 75%. (2015-12-19)