Written by: Todd Casey, Michael Dougherty, Zach Shields
Starring: Adam Scott, Toni Collette, David Koechner, Allison Tolman, Conchata Ferrell, Emjay Anthony, Stefania LaVie Owen, Krista Stadler
If you're like me, you saw the trailer to Krampus and rolled your eyes. The idea of a Christmas horror film is as done to death as every other type of Christmas film. I still remember being a small child in a few video rental stores back in the day, glancing up at the cover of Jack Frost (the slasher flick, not the dead dad movie) and thinking about how silly it looked.
Krampus was poised to be cheesy and to treat its characters as expendable side shows in effects driven, gory, camp fest. But instead, it offers a surprisingly sincere horror film.
The story is about Emjay Anthony as a little boy who doesn't believe in Santa but still believes in the power of Christmas. That is until his backcountry red neck family members arrive at their small suburban home and begin to cause a huge mess of problems. When his letter to Santa - a heartfelt prayer for his family's problems to be repaired - is made fun of, he shreds the letter which summons the Germanic folklore creature Krampus who begins to slaughter the family members.
The premise is fairly conventional and despite some expert wordplay about what precisely the ending of the film means, it stays that way throughout it's running time. Characters who go off alone tend to get picked off, people who are overly confident and fairly offensive tend to be killed for being oafish goons. Unlike most films, though, there is no sense of punishing reward to these kills. The absence of R-rated fare - the raining or splatter of blood, the shrieking, and shredding of human bodies - points to the underlying horror. We as the viewer aren't really meant to be thrilled by these deaths, rather we're meant to fear them. This aspect places the viewer's eyes on its characters, as if we're going to fear death in a film, we have to care about the death of the people in it.
That almost one-half of the children acting in this film are not given true characters sort of battles against this attempt by Krampus. We really only care about two out of five kids, and one of them is sacrificed very early on. As for the adults, we can tell which ones will die essentially by understanding how these films work. Which might leave you wondering where the enjoyment comes from in this film.
Well, I can answer that. It comes in the last thirty minutes.
The film is ninety-eight minutes, and the last thirty of those are filled with "the good stuff." That is, that section has the amazing practical effects, the chase sequence. The other sixty-eight is a lot of set-up and one or two early kills and scares. These last thirty minutes fulfill the promise of an aesthetically Christmas horror film: murderous gingerbread men, a tree angel with a bird-esque attack pattern, a vagina dentata attached to a jack-in-the-box. The film pauses to literally say, "Holy shit!" the first time we see this creature, and it couldn't echo in the viewer more honestly.
But those other sixty-eight really do take away from the film. There is a significant amount of screen time between the first kill and the exciting sequence of the next few that are just so empty of anything other than basic character structure. Not to make false comparisons, but the old Star Wars flicks managed this level of character in about five minutes. Maybe it's just because these characters don't have very much to do, an inexplicable blizzard shuts off anything other than a single home to be used for purposes of the set. The idea is thrown out to go for a snow plow and some sort of warehouse or mall, and I think the film could've used a change of setting to ease the pace of the climax.
At the end of the day, the film reaches an entirely expected ending but delivers a solid enough crunch to round this out as another solidly watchable Christmas flick. The lack of visceral gore keeps it honestly friendly enough for its PG13 crowd, as well as adult in the way it allows an access to audiences not looking for more slashing than horror. And the practical effects employed in this film touch my film going heart in all the right ways.
Don't miss it!
------------
Plug Time!
Check the Facebook page for updates and links so you'll never miss another blog post!
Subscribe to the Twitter so you can see my every basic thought!
I think Luke is going to be a Sith Lord, what about you?
Later this week, I'll be giving you the low-down on what I thought about the brand new Star Wars!
If you're getting sick of all this movie talk, know that on Friday I'll be discussing my reaction to the news that FFVII is episodic!
------------
Did you like this post? If so, consider signing up for the e-mail list so you never miss out on the latest film, tv, music, or video game post from Expository Conundrum! (Hint: It's in the upper right-hand corner of the page!!)
Also, consider donating to the blog! Your eyes are enough, but generosity and support can go a long way to making us both feel a lot better. Support your local artist (by local I mean Internet local.)
Also, consider donating to the blog! Your eyes are enough, but generosity and support can go a long way to making us both feel a lot better. Support your local artist (by local I mean Internet local.)
No comments :
Post a Comment