I saw Krampus two weeks ago. Just some quick thoughts about it, and comparisons to Trick R Treat.
There are blatant similarities between the two. They’re both horror films that are about about ancient, demonic forces punishing people for…improper celebration of Holidays. They differ in a few ways, and these ways speak primarily to Krampus’ weaknesses.
The primary differences are the story structure and the Holiday they are celebrating, and where the horror comes from from that celebration. To start, there’s a consistency to Trick R Treat. It’s celebrating Halloween, and it celebrates horror by bringing it to life, and the punishments are for those that don’t respect the traditions of the Holiday.
Krampus’ punishments are for similar purposes, but instead of having a consistency with the culture, Krampus seeks to contradict. This is made apparent in the (perfect) opening sscene, consisting of a slow motion, Black Friday esque Holiday shopping war zone, edited to (if memory serves) “It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas”.
Basically, Trick R Treat’s punishments come from a failure to celebrate horror, whereas Krampus’ come from a failure to celebrate joyousness, peace on Earth, and all that.
These new intentions don’t inherently make Krampus a lesser film by any means. It just gives it different things to accomplish. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t.
One thing Krampus needed to do was function as a family drama, something it often doesn’t. When I say this, I’m not decrying Krampus’ horror elements, but its human elements. The characters are fine, and have solid moments, but so much of the humor and even the dynamics comes across as forced, contrived. Dougherty’s direction of the actors is hit and miss, which I think speaks to why Trick R Treat works so well. It had more stories, more characters, and, frankly, less time for them to screw up with each of them.
There’s also the horror elements. They often work, and there’s a great deal of creativity put into things like the designs (I’m not of the anti-CGI mindset but good lord these practical effects are breathtaking), but there are times when the horror and contradictions don’t go beyond a frightening version of a familiar Christmas item attacking characters with the help of a violently shaking camera. These sequences don’t amount to much more than “gosh, look at how crazy this is!”, and are particularly disappointing in comparison to the creativity Dougherty put into the horror and lore of Trick R Treat.
There’s plenty good in the film, of course. As I said before, the designs are brilliant, the ending is haunting, and there’s plenty of inspired moments. I just…felt like writing about these issues.
So there.
devilsadvocritic 