Dir. by: Michael Dougherty
Starring: Adam Scott, Toni Collette, Emjay Anthony

I know, I know! I’m two weeks late on this, but I finally saw Krampus! Here’s what I thought:

What’s it about?
Krampus is about a family who doesn’t get along very well at Christmas. Max (Anthony), the young son of Tom and Sarah Engel (Scott and Collette), is picked on by his older cousins for still believing in Santa. This causes him to lose his Christmas spirit and accidentally summon Krampus, the evil shadow of St. Nicholas. The family must fight against Krampus and his minions for any hope to survive.

What did I think?
This movie is pretty stunning. It has a heavy Tim Burton/Nightmare Before Christmas feel. It’s definitely a horror movie that the whole family can enjoy.

Going into the theater, I was a little apprehensive about the fact that the majority of the cast is made up of comedic actors. I’ve said bad things about that type of decision before, such as in Would You Rather, but I actually appreciated it in this film. Adam Scott and David Koechner are two of my favorite comedy actors and I was very happy that they were able to bring their expertise into their rolls. Instead of trying to be serious and emotional, the film incorporated their comedy backgrounds, which added an extra layer to the film that I really enjoyed. Conchata Ferrell, though, was the ultimate comic relief. Her performance as the hated Aunt Dorothy was just amazing.

On the horror side of things, Krampus isn’t really that scary. Sure, there are jump scares and the movie does deal with a demon who drags families down to the underworld for losing their Christmas spirit, but it was definitely made with children in mind (just as the original Krampus story was). There isn’t too much cursing, there’s no graphic gore or violence and the main minions are animated gingerbread men, which I found to be a little too cheesy.

Despite the fact that Krampus isn’t going to keep me up at night, I still enjoyed it for what it was. It was funny, it made me jump a couple of times and the acting was just amazing. For the most part, it was believable, but, if you ask me, their actions were a little too logical and level headed for the situation they were in. It was entertaining, to say the least.

Would I recommend it?
Yes, I would. I wouldn’t say pay $15 to see it in theaters, but definitely see it. It’s not scary and you have to suspend your disbelief in some parts, but it has a lot of good features that deserve to be seen.

Did you see it? Let us know what you think in the comments!