'Krampus' (2015) - film review - Part 2

Krampus: The Demon Of Christmas (Folklore Explained)

Mythology & Fiction Explained

Today we take a look at Santa's not so friendly helper, Krampus. The origins of the Krampus legend and the traditions that still take place even today.


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Krampus (film)

Krampus is a 2015 American dark fantasy horror film based on the eponymous character from Austro-Bavarian folklore, written and directed by Michael Dougherty and co-written by Todd Casey and Zach Shields. The film stars Adam Scott, Toni Collette, David Koechner, Allison Tolman, Conchata Ferrell, Emjay Anthony, Stefania LaVie Owen, and Krista Stadler. It was released in the United States by Universal Pictures on December 4, 2015.


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St. Nicholas and his Krampuses (Germany)

The film opens with the doors first opening up on the morning of "Black Friday." Lots of overt aggression and violence, which set the mood for the film's "in your face" style. Soon after, we are introduced to the very dysfunctional Engel family, and their even more dysfunctional in-laws who are visiting for the three-days leading up to Christmas. Numerous extended family members have a flat-out dislike for one-another, which comes especially well into focus on their first holiday supper. Much of the story revolves around their German-speaking grandmother Omi. In general, the main protagonist is her grandson Max, who still believes in Santa Klaus. The mother is played by Toni Collette, who seems a bit prissy but she can get very intense. She reminds me of Paul Giamatti, with a great "character face." Kathy Bates is in it, playing a super-annoying in-law who wasn't expected to be there. This film would be labeled as "comedy-horror."

After being teased about a letter that we was writing to Santa, Max later tears up the letter and tosses it out the window, which seems to set in motion supernatural events. I suppose that he "put it out there to the universe" a message of the family's extreme negativity and mean spiritedness. Shortly thereafter, a power outage amid a snowstorm signals "party time" for horror fans. The daughter goes out to take a walk, and witnesses the ominous arrival of Krampus amid the dark, gloomy sky and weather. He appears on a nearby roof looking like a large, horned, hoofed, claw bearing, super-creepy long-tongued, chain-clad, demonic Santa Klaus. He does her in and turns her into a snowman.

Once she's assumed missing, the two father characters go out to find her and are attacked by Krampus, although they manage to make it back to the house. This sets the stage for the rest of the film. Slowly the threat brings the family together, and they start to cooperate. At some point it becomes clear that Omi knows of Krampus, and experienced his wrath when she was a child back in a village in a German-speaking country. Eventually she tells the whole family this story, as well as the reason for this occurrence, which was that they had forgotten the spirit of Christmas and about the sacrifice of giving.

The Badalisc (Val Camonica)

What it boils down to is that the family pulls together and shows love and courage by fighting back against Krampus and his dark elves and other evil helpers. Even Kathy Bates' toxic character took action and became one of the best fighters. Although the film didn't actually state it, the basic theme was "evolutionary struggle." At least in the past, if a clan didn't work together and sacrifice for the extended group, then they could possibly all perish. So the lesson is about love and sacrifice. I think this was the one accurate aspect of the Krampus (or similar Alpine deities) legend in the modern sense. So the war was on, and both sides--the Engels and the Krampus gang--suffered casualties.

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Spoiler alert beyond this point!

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The final showdown; Max and Krampus

Finally the family flees the house, but Omi stays behind to face Krampus. It didn't seem to be clear as to why, but when they met face-to-face she seemed to have perished. It didn't show this, perhaps because it may have been too disturbing for very young viewers. Actually it was a rather violent film, but it didn't actually depict the killing of any humans. As the family flees, the Krampus group attacks and one-by-one pulls them under the snow which meant that they had perished. Max finally comes face-to-face with Krampus, and he gives the boy a dark green steel Christmas tree bulb. Max takes back his negative "wish" aloud and throws the bulb back at him... and it sizzles, sinks into the snow, and forms a large hellfire pit. Krampus throws the remaining girl into it, and then Max as well.

The film ends with Max waking up in this bed on Christmas morning; it was just a dream. Everyone is alive and acting like any loving family; entirely different than they had behaved prior. It was all just a lesson, but there was a small surprise ending which I'll not divulge. Again, I though that this horror film was important to review because of the real Alpine folklore attached to it, Krampus has it's origin in the ancient Horned God of European witchcraft, as well as the legend's lesson. At some point in history it merged with Christian themes, with Krampus usually being one of Santa's helpers. Actually, to be truthful, "Santa's thug"; taking care of the bad boys and girls. Of course, that was the Christian makeover.

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