 Thanks for checking out this movie review video. This is for the 2015 holiday horror film Krampus and when this film came out, I remember thinking this is a very welcome entry into holiday horror especially for Christmas time because I feel like there's not enough of that I mean, I'm sure people say well, there's more than you think but I know how much is out there But I just feel like there needs to be more and there are still ones I haven't seen which you know, I'll get to but we still need more Anyway, especially ones of the quality of this so Oh, by the way, I didn't watch it on shutter or anything even though I'm wearing a shutter shirt. I watch it on Krampus my blu-ray which my buddy Rich Smith just got for me. Thank you very much Rich Smith I'd been needing that it was actually harder to find he said than you would think Anyway directed by Michael Daugherty who ended up who had written Scripts for the films X to X men united urban legends bloody Mary Superman returns and then wrote and directed most famously trick-or-treat which I love and Godzilla king of the monsters and apparently has some sort of role with the Godzilla versus Kong film That's going to be coming out This was written by Daugherty and Todd Casey who Todd Casey did a bunch of animated series They wrote for and then also Zach Shields who was involved in writing the script for Godzilla king monsters The budget was 15 million dollars and ended up making 61.5 million which is pretty good especially for a horror film. I mean that's that's they made some good Some good money on that especially considering what the topic is It's based on the German and Austrian version of Krampus who kidnapped and punished bad children Also, it's important to note that Michael Daugherty in Interviews has said that when he was writing the script for this He envisioned that Krampus and Sam from trick-or-treat would be in the same universe So there is a situation where they meet each other Which as soon as he said that I was like write that script. Let's see that movie Just bring those two holidays right together. I'm with it because I think just like Sam being cool and iconic I think his version of Krampus is also that way Max's mother Sarah in this refers to the noodle incident. That's something to note. It's a really kind of like Quick thing that she talks about Which is why they're kind of estranged from their neighbors And she's just like oh because of Max and the noodle incident now That's a reference to the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes because apparently The new the this excuse me the noodle incident I don't know why it was so hard to say gets referenced numerous times in Calvin and Hobbes But it's never ever explained and it's the same thing in this it was taken from Calvin and Hobbes It gets just thrown out there as a reason for something, but it's never explained Douglas pipes was the person who did the score for this and he said that he ended up using Chains bells bones and animal skin drums to inject a pagan aspect to the holiday music that was used for this And I do think it was a great kind of mixture of some traditional holiday stuff But some more pagan like they were talking about and more of like the dark Krampus Folklore aspect of the film just mixing those things together quite well Seth Green voiced lumpy Ginger the gingerbread man and the other gingerbread man clumpy was voiced by Justin Roiland and if people don't know the name Justin Roiland He does a lot of the voicing and is involved in writing for the show Rick and Morty So that was just very interesting to note Max's family last name in this is Engel, which is a German for angel So if you can see right there, it's the dichotomy between that and the evil Krampus When Max shares some of his Halloween candy in the film You've noticed if you look in the bag if you look very very closely you can see Sam's Bitten lollipop with the you know point on it that he uses to kill The beginning of the film with the nice Christmas music against the worst of humanity fighting over stuff in stores Perfectly sums up the point of this film. It also plays as kind of a funny introduction It's the Christmas music playing while people are fighting each other for stuff in a department store or and you know Any type of store just name it for Black Friday and stuff like that. Um, I Do like that kind of dichotomy of here's this beautiful music. That's all about Christmas and it's about Coming together and fun and great things and and humanity being good to each other but then it's Layed over footage of people literally fighting for consumer goods in a store and that it's it kind of shows how How far we've come from the conception of Christmas and the music that was created so long ago And how things were back then with Christmas versus how they are now and it just kind of shows a decline in Humanity as in how we treat each other basically missing the whole Christmas spirit and that is the point Or one of the main points of this film and it's not one of those ones that you need to reach for dig for it's right there in your face And I know that was intentional The dichotomy of what was and what is is comes into focus with the differences of the grandmother Omi and Her son initially Tom when he shows up Adam Scott's character who's awesome Traditional versus consumerism mixed with cynicism. That's what you see Omi is the traditional She's trying to keep things simple She's trying to keep things traditional because obviously she was left by Crampus to remind people of that That's why she was just given the bell and her whole family was taken away Plus on top of that the wish that she made about them being taken away And then her son and his family and the rest of the family has Descended so far into what our society has become which is focused on technology First focused on consumerism and highly highly cynical once again getting to the point of the film itself So I like that you see that immediately Between the two of them all the funny family dynamics feel a whole lot like national ampoune's Christmas vacation I guarantee I didn't find anything saying it But I guarantee that a lot of the basis for the for the comedy and the characters came from National ampoune's Christmas vacation You can see it very very easily in this a lot of it is mirrored when they show up when they have the meal some of the Same kind of jokes are done the whole white collar versus blue collar families Which is at play in national ampoune's Christmas vacation. It is all there. I mean just look at David Keckner's character I forget his name at the moment, but I have it in my notes somewhere But his character is uncle Eddie basically and then the wife and the kids and even a dog It's all that Just like in Christmas vacation, there's a white collar versus blue collar tension for comedic use But it also works as a part of just showing division in general Which I think very much is existing well was in 2015 is existing nowadays But I do think it's interesting how as the film goes on they get into a terrible situation and then those Differences actually come to get together to compliment one another in survival and that's one of the other points of this is that you need to kind of Get away from the bickering and fighting and focusing on our differences and understand how those differences Compliment one another and you don't end up seeing it until you're really forced to see it Which is life-or-death situation As people keep coming to the house you realize what a great cast it is Yes, you know you have Tony Colette. You have David Keckner. You have Adam Scott and then I feel like the cherry on top is Kathy Bates. I love Kathy Bates. I think she's always funny. Oh, no, that's not Kathy Bates. I'm sorry The poor man's Kathy Bates, I guess I forget what her name is. I should have looked it up I just she reminds me of Kathy Bates who I love but I know some people are gonna hammer me for that She was in two and a half men though the show two and a half men this woman who plays the aunt Is that her role in this? I didn't even catch her name the boo sound the lady that just keeps drinking and says at one point Come on kids. I'll teach you how to make peppermint schnobs. She's very funny. I really do like her I apologize for calling her Kathy Bates Well, should I apologize because that's kind of a compliment because she plays the character so well and she is very funny Anyway, if someone knows her name go ahead and put it down in the comments I'll look it up after this but go ahead and put it down in the comments It appears that Max and his belief in the way Christmas should be is what kept Krampus away all this time Also, I think how Omi was able to keep the family to some degree a little bit focused on the traditions of What Christmas is supposed to and what it's supposed to be in and embody But then once that all falls apart which is symbolized when well, which is shown when Max You know tears up his letter to Santa Claus and makes his wish of taking the family away Krampus shows up and he comes after everyone except Max he comes after Omi too though because Not only has she failed what she was left there to do Which is to remind every one of what Christmas is supposed to be an embody But she was also part of the family that Max had wished would go, you know He didn't say anything specific about which people he just said his family. So she was a part of that So she got rolled into it It appears that Max and his belief in the way Christmas should be oh, I'm sorry, I literally just read that I'm sorry people. I'm off. I'm off my game today The first sighting of Krampus on the house in the severe snowstorm is pretty imposing I think it looks really good. It has a lot of impact to it And I also love the rattling of the chains that you hear when Krampus moves There's so much power in the character with just that noise Because it lets you know he's carrying these heavy chains around and it just it sounds creepy scary. It's great The slow reveal of the jack-in-the-box is very creepy Which is around the time that you were first introduced to Krampus outside in the storm Love that and especially that you don't see the entire jack-in-the-box You just see a little bit of the top of the head come up and then it cuts away and the van is like rocking Really cool really well done Notice that Sarah and Linda start getting closer to each other when they start talking about the past Who they used to be ends up coming back a little bit within each of them and this goes to that moment of They're kind of starting to go back to what it was supposed to be what it used to be what it should be So you see that little moment in that and it's when they're gathered around the Christmas tree Which is a symbol of the tradition of Christmas and ties it back to what it was and what it should be Howard that's his name David Keckner's character Howard has the guns and Tom has the brains separately they're they're Done for in this situation, but together they have a chance at survival And this is what I was talking about before about the white collar versus blue collar differences They also implied political differences that are at play here But once things get bad once they come together they collaborate they Compliment each other very well, and they can potentially survive Obviously, that doesn't really happen in the end. I mean it doesn't doesn't Darity sure does like the dumb fat kid trope and his inability to pass up food if you notice that's used in trick-or-treat with the kid who ends up eating the candy with poison and razor blades in it and ends up dying from that and Howard's son who is the first one to die When Krampus shows up with the hook that comes down the chimney with the gingerbread man on it that pulls him in because It's the fat kid trope who can't pass up food It's overplayed that trope. I we don't really need that but He does it The animation style of the flashback to tell omie's past story. I think is really cool. It looks great When you do flashbacks are different ways you can do it I think differentiating that it is a flashback by having it look different is always a good idea So the fact that they did animation works perfectly fine and the animation style they chose looks very artsy But also good at the same time The design of Krampus's helpers are great You can tell the derivations of each of the characters But they also are done up to actually be scary be creepy be effective be menacing. I love it I think maybe my favorite is the jack-in-the-box guy with the you know, the jaws that open at the bottom Probably my favorite. Although the angel looks pretty crazy and especially when she's on top of Sarah and like her little tongues coming out and like wiping on her face Pretty crazy and what's with the tongue things because Krampus also sticks this tongue out And I think it gets close to max. I want to say interesting But yeah, the the helpers are great and even the gingerbread man all of them really cool Notice toward the end of the film the the the song silent night is playing when they're outside trying to run from the house Now this is when Sarah and Linda both get grabbed and pulled under the snow by whatever's in the snow kind of grabbing people and While they're getting taken away notice that a port the portion of the song Sleep in heavenly peace is playing the words aren't there But the the musical melody is there and I think that's cool because they line it up that way because sleep in heavenly peace Death I thought that was cool. I noticed that and I really liked it Like I already said that Omi, you know ends up getting taken by Krampus because she failed her role as Being there as a reminder because her family totally fell apart Max was the last holdout for her by the way, and then also because Max Max asked for the family to be taken There's a it was all a dream fake out that shows up in this film And I remember the first time I saw it. I was like, please don't make this all a dream I hate that when you do that in films So I was fine with it being a fake out as long as it's a fake out I'm good, but they do that nice kind of fake out and then you realize that they're in a snow globe They have been actually taken and initially you think what's gonna happen is like they go to hell or something But no the hell is being stuck in the snow globe, and they're gonna have to be I assume have to be stuck in that day in that house Forever, that's my assumption, which is pretty terrifying especially considering the fact that Things will just devolve between well amongst all of them because they'll just revert to being bad to each other I assume This film looks really good really well shot Cinematography great directing great acting great like I said the cast is so good So all the technical stuff awesome The pacing is really good too. It never really feels like they're really wasting time Even when it gets a little bit slow at times It doesn't do that for long and it picks right back up good action to it do it good comedy to it Interesting characters interesting character interactions and and the whole story as it unfolds Really good. I really like that. I am actually okay with the PG-13 rating on this because I feel like they kind of make up for the gore with Actual good comedy if that makes sense to anyone I don't know how people feel about that but for me if you're not going to have good gore or good kills then Comedy will make up for it for me, and I feel like that's fine And apparently Michael Dowerty was actually fine with with shooting it as a PG-13 I think he initially wanted to do it as an R But the studio said can you do to PG-13 and he was like, yeah, I'm actually okay with that and you know watching the film It's a good product as PG-13. There are films that when their horror are still good as PG-13 And I think this is one of them Nothing brings family together like having a Sorry, but like having to face a life or death situation This speaks to humanity in general when there isn't a common enemy to fight the conflict ends up turning inward And that's what we see with this film is because The point of Christmas and what Christmas is supposed to be has been lost within this family It's they've they've turned on each other instead of focusing outward and having anything to work together for They've turned inward and started in fighting And I think that this family is a microcosm for all of humanity within the film because obviously Like you see in the end there are plenty of other globes that Krampus has has collected so there are other families like that So, yeah, but but that is just the thing that happens in humanity in general You know, you can see it with things like when 9-eleven happened, you know people Really came together people were very nice to each other helping each other out like it was a horrible situation and because we had some outside force Coming in against us it polar You know it brought everyone together in a common goal to survive to make it to support each other now That didn't last and and that's how it is like you have to constantly remember That we're all in life together. We're all in this within the United States We all live in this country together. We should be able to have disagreements, but you know not stop Having interactions with each other because of those disagreements So just saying it's um It's this film really does make you think and it that's why the message and how it's executed ends up being perfect For the time of year that it's intended to be watched So anyway, I do like this film as you can tell and I'm interested to see what you think about this film Put your comments down here Let's talk about it my rating out of five stars with half stars in play It's not like the most amazing, but I do quite like it I'm giving it three and a half stars a very solid three and a half stars and I would like Michael Diary to just keep doing holiday horror films. Let's get some more. Let's let's do a Any of them honestly Easter I'd love to see what he would do with Easter that that'd be very interesting like a messed up Easter Bunny I'd be cool with that. Anyway, like I said put your comments down here But do me a quick favor hit that subscribe button if you like this video or any video I've ever done that is your way to repay me. That is your way to give me a gift for the holidays Gift me your subscription Doesn't cost you anything and it takes like a second also hit the Notification bell button because that way you'll know whenever I'm putting up new reviews or unboxings or any of that stuff But regardless, I do thank you for checking this out and until next time keep it brutal