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Krampus (film)

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Krampus
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMichael Dougherty
Written by
  • Todd Casey
  • Michael Dougherty
  • Zach Shields
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJules O'Loughlin
Edited byJohn Axelrad
Music byDouglas Pipes
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release dates
  • November 30, 2015 (2015-11-30) (Los Angeles premiere)
  • December 4, 2015 (2015-12-04) (United States)
Running time
98 minutes[1]
CountriesUnited States
New Zealand
LanguageEnglish
Budget$15 million[2]
Box office$61.5 million[2]

Krampus is a 2015 American Christmas horror comedy film based upon the eponymous character from Germanic folklore, directed by Michael Dougherty and written by Dougherty, 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 on December 4, 2015, by Universal Pictures.[3][4]

Plot

On December 22, a suburban family gets together to celebrate the holidays—Tom (Adam Scott) and Sarah (Toni Collette), their children Beth (Stefania LaVie Owen) and Max (Emjay Anthony); Sarah's sister Linda (Allison Tolman), Linda's husband Howard (David Koechner), their children Stevie (Lolo Owen), Jordan (Queenie Samuel), Howie Jr. (Maverick Flack), and their baby daughter; Sarah and Linda's aunt Dorothy (Conchata Ferrell); and Tom's Austrian mother, who is affectionately referred to as "Omi" (Krista Stadler).

Max wants to continue the family's Christmas traditions, but tensions between various members of the family keep everyone from having a good time and the family begin to lose their Christmas Spirit. Jordan and Stevie torment their younger cousin Max which causes him to tear apart his letter to Santa. Shortly afterwards a severe blizzard appears and cuts out power in the entire town. The family begins to notice some odd occurrences such as a random snowman appearing in their yard, noises on their roof and the rather sudden storm.

Beth decides to walk a few blocks down the street to check up on her boyfriend and is accosted by a yak-like creature along the way that jumps along the roofs of houses. In a panic she hides under a car and the monster disappears but leaves her a wind up toy that ticks and her fate is left unknown.

With Beth gone for over an hour, the family becomes concerned and Howard and Tom venture out to go find her. They travel to Beth's boyfriend's house and find it in devastation, with the chimney split open and large goat-like hoof prints on the floor. Along the way Howard is attacked by some creature in the snow that only leaves them after Tom shoots it. Their vehicle is destroyed and they return home scared. Fearing what they do not yet understand the family board up the doors and windows, promising Sarah they will look for Beth in the morning.

Omi reveals to the family what is happening—they are being tormented by Krampus, an ancient demonic spirit that punishes those who are bad at Christmas, referring to him as the "shadow of Saint Nicholas". Omi admits that when she was young, her family's poverty caused her to lose her love of the holidays, which summoned Krampus and resulted in her parents, and town being dragged into hell. She alone was spared by the demon, who left behind a bauble with his name inscribed and her life as a reminder of what happens when one loses their Christmas spirit.

The family decides to set up a watch while the others sleep. Howard picked the first watch but falls asleep. During this time, Howie jr. is enticed by a gingerbread man that appears in the Chimney and is ultimately violently abducted up the chimney. Despite the family's attempts to save him, he is taken and they are left in a frenzy.

While they make plans on leaving town in search of help and shelter, the two girls Jordan and Stevie hear their cousin Beth calling and head up the stairs to the attic where they are attacked by Krampus's minions. The family run to the attic and witness a large, snake-like jack-in-the-box monster and are attacked by a group of monstrous toys. Krampus is heard landing on their roof, and family members quickly decide to make a run for the snowplow only to find it won't start. Omi stays behind for unknown reasons and seems to have a meaningful moment with Krampus. Krampus takes out everyone in the family and finally appears before Max and gives him a bauble with his name on it, wrapped in a piece of his shredded Santa letter, before vanishing. Max realizes that he is the reason why Krampus came.

Max confronts and pleads with Krampus to give his family back and take him instead. Krampus seems to accept this but suddenly laughs and picks him up instead and holds him over a pit. Max apologizes to the demon for losing his Christmas spirit but Krampus drops the screaming Max into the pit.

Max suddenly wakes in his bed on Christmas morning. He looks out his window and sees that the neighborhood has returned to normal. He finds his family downstairs opening presents. Believing that the entire experience had been a dream he opens a present and discovers the Krampus bauble. The family falls silent as everyone thinks back to the events that had just transpired and the camera zooms out to reveal that their house is now inside a snow globe on a shelf in the Krampus' lair.

Cast

Voices

Production

The film is written and directed by Michael Dougherty, known for the 2007 cult hit Trick 'r Treat.[3] It is co-written by Todd Casey and Zach Shields, and produced by Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, and Alex Garcia of Legendary Pictures.[4] On November 21, 2014, Allison Tolman and Emjay Anthony joined the cast.[6] On March 3, 2015, Adam Scott, David Koechner, and Toni Collette joined the cast.[5] Principal photography began on March 12, 2015.[10] Creature effects were made by Weta Workshop.[11]

Release

The film was originally scheduled a release date for November 25, 2015,[12] but was pushed back to December 4, 2015.

Merchandise

An original graphic novel titled Krampus: Shadow of Saint Nicholas was released on November 25, 2015 by Legendary Entertainment.[13] The comic is written by Brandon Seifert and features stories by writer/director Michael Dougherty and movie co-writers Zach Shields and Todd Casey. Art is provided by Fiona Staples, Michael Montenat, Stuart Sayger, Maan House and Christian DiBari.
Weta Workshop released a number of collectables through their online store, including statues (Krampus, The Cherub, The Dark Elf), a life-sized prop reproduction of the Krampus Bell and a collectable pin.[14]
Trick or Treat Studios released three Halloween Masks directly out of the screen used masters. The masks include Krampus and two elves, Window Pepper and Sheep Cote Clod.[15]

Reception

Box office

As of January 21, 2016, Krampus has grossed $42.7 million in North America and $18.7 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $61.4 million, against a budget of $15 million.[2]

In the United States and Canada, Krampus earned $637,000 from its Thursday night showings, which began at 7 p.m.,[16] and topped the box office on its opening day with $6 million.[17] It rose 9.9% on Saturday over Friday, a rare occurrence for a horror movie.[18] It went on to earn $16.3 million through its opening weekend from 2,902 theaters, which was above expectations and finished in second place at the box office behind The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 ($18.6 million), which was on its third weekend.[18][19] Scott Mendelson of Forbes felt the successful opening was attributed to the horror genre which was something of a new, unique and genuinely different offering at that time (the last time a Christmas horror movie opened was in 2006 with Black Christmas[20]). However, he also stated that had Universal not embargoed the reviews two days prior to its release, a wave of mostly positive reviews dropping a few days before release would have boosted its opening accordingly.[21]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 64%, based on 89 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Krampus is gory good fun for fans of non-traditional holiday horror with a fondness for Joe Dante's B-movie classics, even if it doesn't have quite the savage bite its concept calls for."[22] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 49 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed to average reviews".[23] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B-" on an A+ to F scale.[24]

See also

References

  1. ^ "KRAMPUS (15)". British Board of Film Classification. November 17, 2015. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c "Krampus (2015)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  3. ^ a b Barton, Steve (October 30, 2014). "Legendary's Krampus Coming December 2015". DreadCentral.com. Dread Central Media, LLC.
  4. ^ a b Ford, Rebecca (October 30, 2014). "Legendary and Universal's 'Krampus' Avoids Showdown with Seth Rogen Christmas Movie". Hollywood Reporter.
  5. ^ a b c d "Adam Scott, Toni Collette Join Christmas Horror Movie 'Krampus' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. 2015-03-03. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  6. ^ a b B.G. Henne (2014-11-21). "Allison Tolman joins Yuletide horror-comedy Krampus · Newswire · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  7. ^ Jeff Sneider (2015-03-03). "Adam Scott, David Koechner Join Legendary's Horror Comedy 'Krampus' (Exclusive)". Thewrap.com. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  8. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3850590/
  9. ^ a b c "Krampus (2015) Financial Information". Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved 2015-12-15.
  10. ^ Evry, Max (March 12, 2015). "Legendary Begins Principal Photography on Horror Comedy Krampus". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
  11. ^ "Weta Workshop Projects - Krampus". Weta Workshop. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  12. ^ McClintock, Pamela (August 19, 2014). "Legendary and Universal's 'Krampus,' 'Spectral' Nab Release Dates". Hollywood Reporter.
  13. ^ "Trick 'r Treat, Krampus – Graphic Novel Announcement". Legendary Entertainment. March 19, 2015. Retrieved December 13, 2015.
  14. ^ "Weta Workshop Krampus items". Weta Workshop. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  15. ^ Trick or Treat Studios Krampus – Halloween Masks http://www.trickortreatstudios.com, Krampus – Halloween Masks. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  16. ^ Rebecca Ford (December 4, 2015). "Box Office: 'Krampus' Creeps to $637K Thursday Night". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  17. ^ Pamela McClintock (December 5, 2015). "Box Office: 'Krampus' Narrowly Wins Friday With $6M; Spike Lee's 'Chi-Raq' Opens at No. 13". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
  18. ^ a b Anthony D'Alessandro (December 7, 2015). "'Krampus' Rises During Ho-Ho-Hum Holiday Frame – Monday Final Update". Deadline.com. Retrieved December 8, 2015. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  19. ^ Pamela McClintock (December 5, 2015). "Box Office: 'Krampus' Beats 'Good Dinosaur' With $16M; 'Hunger Games' Stays No. 1". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 6, 2015.
  20. ^ Scott Mendelson (December 5, 2015). "Box Office: 'Krampus' Tops Friday With $6M, Spike Lee's 'Chi-Raq' On Track For $1.1M Debut". Forbes. Retrieved December 6, 2015.
  21. ^ Scott Mendelson (December 6, 2015). "Box Office: 'Krampus' Scares Up A Christmas Miracle With $16M Weekend". Forbes. Retrieved December 6, 2015.
  22. ^ "Krampus reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
  23. ^ "Krampus reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  24. ^ "Katniss, 'Krampus', 'Creed' & 'Good Dinosaur' Keep Post Holiday Frame From Singing The Blues At The B.O." deadline.com.
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