Krampus (film)

Krampus is a 2015 American horror fantasy 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 Johnathon Schaech, Toni Collette, Woody Harrelson, Ivy George, Conchata Ferrell, Emjay Anthony, Stefania LaVie Owen, and Krista Stadler. It was released on December 4, 2015, by Warner Bros Pictures. Creature effects were made by New Zealand-based special effect studio Weta Workshop.

Plot

On December 22, a suburban family gets together to celebrate the holidays—Tom (Johnathon Schaech) 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, Baby Chrissy (Sage Hunefeld) 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 lose their Christmas Spirit. Jordan and Stevie take Max's letter to Santa and read it in front of the family mocking and embarrassing Max. Shortly after Max angrily shreds his Santa letter and throws it out the window into the sky, a snowstorm appears and cuts out power in the entire town.

On December 23 with no hot water, heat, or power, the family struggles for survival Beth travels to her boyfriend's house, but is then attacked and taken by a figure with horns. Tom and Howard then travel to Beth's boyfriend's house, and find it in devastation, with the chimney split open as well as large, goat-like hoof prints on the floor. After Howard is attacked and bitten by a creature in the snow, the two men retreat back to the house. Fearing what they do not yet understand, the family board up the doors and windows, promising Sarah they will look for the missing Beth when morning comes. When the family falls asleep, Howie is woken up by the sounds of a chain down the chimney, and a gingerbread cookie on it. When he bites it, it comes to life and wraps around him. As he screams, the family tries to pull him back, but they lose grip and Howie screams in horror as he is taken up the chimney. All that ever fell down was his left shoe.

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, the townspeople's loss in belief, and the loss of the Christmas spirit caused her to lose her love for the holidays. This summoned Krampus, resulting in her parents, and the town being dragged into Hell. She alone was spared by the demon, who left behind a bauble with his name inscribed as well as her life as a reminder of what happens when one loses their Christmas spirit. As Omi weeps in sadness, everyone but Howard is believing it. Howard opens the door to get Howie back, but finds a bunch of creepy snowmen (one of which looks like Howie). Shadowy figures loom behind the snowmen cackling evilly. Sarah closes the door, grabbing Howard with her. Their motive now was to keep the fire hot in the chimney.

In December 24 the storm still loomed over the snowy sky with lightning and thunder. In the attic ( after the kids ask questions about kramus and the adults call for Howard and Linda), Linda was hoping to rewrap the gifts from the bag of presents for the kids before suddenly begins shaking. Stevie and Jordan on the way to the bathroom hear a voice from the attic , mistaking it for Beth's.The family runs to the attic and witness a large, snake-like jack-in-the-box monster eating Jordan and are attacked by a group of monstrous toys, but manage to escape and save Stevie. When the family dog runs into the air vents to attack the snake-like jack-in-the-box it breaks through the ceiling and the monstrous toys attack again. Just as Dorothy is about to kill the jack-in-the-box with the gun, monstrous looking elves break in and take Dorothy, the baby and Howard. Krampus is heard landing on their roof, and the rest of the family members quickly decide to make a run for the snowplow but Omi decides to stay behind to face Krampus but is then knocks her out by monstrous toys from his sack. As the family almost makes it to the snowplow, Tom stays behind to fight off the creature under the snow but runs out of ammo is then taken. Linda and Sarah are both then taken too after they get Max and Stevie in the snowplow but they discover the snow plow won't start and are attacked by the elves. After the elves take Stevie, Krampus appears in front of 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 travels in now snowy neighborhood till eventually he found Krampus and his elves with Stevie. Krampus's is found in his gruesome sleigh pulled by monstrous large goat-like creatures . Max confronts and pleads with Krampus who opens a pit to hell to give his family back and take him instead. Krampus whips Max's tear and then laughs evilly along with his elves and makes the elves throw Stevie into the pit then picks Max up and holds him over the pit. Max apologizes to the demon for losing his Christmas spirit and just wanted to have the Christmas they use to have but Krampus drops the screaming Max into the pit.

Max suddenly awakens in his bed on Christmas morning. He looks out his window and sees that the neighborhood has returned to normal, and finds his presents under the tree and his family appears. Believing that the entire experience had been a dream, he opens a present and discovers the Krampus bauble and the family falls silent and remembers what happened as the scene pans out to reveal them being seen through a snow globe in Krampus' lair. The last shots of the movie are Krampus' lair with many other snow globes, which leads to a jumpscare from the toys from earlier and the screen cuts to black.

Cast

• Johnathon Scheach as Tom
• Toni Collette as Sarah
• Woody Harrelson as Howard
• Allison Tolman as Linda
• Conchata Ferrell as Aunt Dorothy
• Emjay Anthony as Max
• Stefania LaVie Owen as Beth
• Krista Stadler as Omi
• Maverick Flack as Howie Jr.
• Queenie Samuel as Jordan
• Lolo Owen as Stevie
• Sage Hunefeld as Baby Chrissy
• Leith Towers as Derek
• Curtis Vowell as DHL Man
• Javier Botet as Krampus (in-suit performer)
• Gary Oldman as Krampus (vocal effects)
• Seth Green as Lumpy and phone guy
• Breehn Burns as Dumpy
• Justin Roiland as Clumpy
• Brett Beattie as Der Klown
• Imogen Stone as Der Klown (puppeteer)
• Mark Atkin as Ketkrókur
• Amy Brighton as Þvörusleikir
• Trevor Bau as Hurðaskellir
• Ravi Narayan as Kertasníkir
• Felicity Hamill as Gáttaþefur
• Sophie Gannon as Bjúgnakrækir
• Kelly Lily Marie as Giljagaur
• Clare Odell as Gluggagægir
• Gareth Ruck as Stekkjarstaur
• Ivy George as Perchta
• Collin Dean as Ruprecht the Elf
• Pascal Ackerman as Yule Goat
• Skye Broberg as Yule Goat
• Jessie Carson as Yule Goat
• Thor as Rosie the Dog

Production Notes

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

Release

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

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Gallery

The official logo of the film

The first theatrical poster

The second theatrical poster