By Brett Blake Horror is my favorite genre, and Christmas is second only to Halloween as my favorite holiday. It’s probably not surprising, then, that a horror movie set at Christmas is something I would embrace. I say this to provide a bit of context, because I absolutely loved KRAMPUS. It might not be one of the best movies of the year, but it is definitely one of my favorites of the year, with its gleefully sinister holiday trappings, joyously malevolent creatures, and playful sense of humor that somehow never undermines the seriously dark stakes of the tale. The narrative revolves around an extended family (the various branches of which are headed by Adam Scott & Toni Collette and David Koechner & Allison Tolman) gathering at Christmas. Young Max (Emjay Anthony), already on the verge of no longer believing in Santa and the magic of the holiday, finds himself pushed to the limit by his family’s inability to get along with each other, and in a fit of anger and sorrow, he decries the very holiday itself, an act which summons the legendary Krampus - the so-called “Shadow of Saint Nicholas” - and his small army of dark helpers to the family, who find themselves trapped by an unearthly snow storm. All manner of spooky holiday mayhem then ensues. There’s no shortage of Christmas-themed horror movies out there, though - surprisingly - there aren’t many that are actually any good. 1974’s BLACK CHRISTMAS and the aforementioned GREMLINS are kind of the towering achievements of the subgenre (though it could be argued that some of the darker interpretations of Dickens’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL offer a few legitimately creepy moments), and while KRAMPUS doesn’t quite match them (that would be an unrealistic expectation, anyway), it is a more than worthy entry. Director Michael Dougherty, of the cult classic TRICK ‘R TREAT, has given Christmas the same treatment he gave Halloween in that earlier film. This is a movie drunk on the iconography of the holiday, and while there’s a slightly subversive streak to it (as it pokes fun at consumerism and lack of familial harmony), it’s ultimately an ode to what the holiday should be about. His cast is absolutely on the same page as he is, bringing an ever-so-slight tongue-in-cheek sensibility to the proceedings but also playing the emotional states of the characters completely for real. Given their backgrounds, Scott and Koechner carry the humorous moments with ease, while Collette keeps the emotional stakes up front and believable at all times. This balance is what keeps KRAMPUS from being just a silly lark and elevates it to the status of legitimate cinema. There is a strong morality play unfolding here, even as the movie isn’t afraid to cut loose and have some fun. For all its humor (and there are many funny moments), this is still a proper horror movie; the intensity level is right where fans of scary movies would want it to be, and it pushes the boundaries of its PG-13 rating in ways that are surprisingly edgy. The filmmakers treat the horror elements straight, and never come anywhere close to embracing camp, which would have been an easy impulse to indulge, given that the subject matter is just this side of goofy. It’s a movie steeped in its influences, but instead of this resulting in a cliched pastiche, what we have here feels like a unique fusion, a fresh blend of humor and horror. There are nods of the head, certainly, to movies as far-ranging as POLTERGEIST, HOME ALONE, THE EVIL DEAD, GREMLINS, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, and NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION, but no overt “references” to take a viewer out of the story. Wrapping this holiday horror melange in a darkly festive bow of ancient Alpine folklore (some of which is detailed in a wonderful and creative animated sequence in the middle of the movie) is a near-masterstroke, as it allows the movie to play upon our familiarity with the Christmas holiday and its traditions while also showing us something that - at least in my estimation - has remained a fairly obscure footnote in Yuletide mythology. When one considers that the vast majority of the movie was created on sound stages in New Zealand, the production design and art direction are absolutely top notch, enhancing the snowbound, chilling mood perfectly. This mood is equally aided by sound design that is borderline Oscar-worthy; from howling winds to unsettling noises in the house, the sound work pulls out all the stops to emphasize both the wintry setting and the monstrous activity that descends upon the characters. Composer Douglas Pipes contributes a score which manages to feel both Christmasy and horrific; he utilizes the melodies and rhythms of several classic carols and puts his own macabre spin on them, and for the sequences of terror, he conjures up a gigantic orchestral sound that is nearly operatic. In an age of CGI, where filmmakers routinely go to animation for complex or outlandish characters, KRAMPUS is a refreshing throwback to the days of puppets, animatronics, and makeup. Sure, there are CG elements in the movie, but the bulk of the extraordinary and inventive creature design work is achieved through practical means. This lends the movie a tactile and weighty quality which helps the violence and mayhem to really hit harder than your typical computer-generated antics tend to do. The deranged elves and gleefully ghoulish killer toys are outrageously creepy (guaranteed nightmares-waiting-to-happen for younger audience members), but they’re merely a prelude to the title creature himself; Krampus is a fantastically evocative and eerie creation, often hidden in shadow or silhouette, and he's an instantly iconic addition to cinematic depictions of Christmas. KRAMPUS is a clever, twisted, and - yes - even heartfelt horror yarn that can take its place beside GREMLINS as one of the best examples of Christmas terror. So this weekend, if you find yourself confronted with sold out showings of STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, you could do a lot worse than seeing KRAMPUS as your fallback option. It's all kinds of fun.
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