Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Krampus (2015)




Be careful what you wish for this Christmas, It may just come true....

An extended family is forced to spend the Christmas break together. Things start badly with a lot of infighting, but when the youngest member of the family destroys his wish list for Santa Clause and stops believing in Christmas, it awakens an ancient being...

A paralyzing snow storm is the perfect setting for the family to discover the true meaning of the festive season. If they can work together, they may just be able to defeat a being, Hell-bent on ruining their Christmas

 A perfect comedic-horror romp, just in time for the holidays. Dark enough to frighten the kids, but comedic enough to allow adults to nervously laugh at things which go bump in the night.

It is a very hard task to mix horror and comedy and make it credible and this movie, fails to really achieve this. The cast; led by easily recognized comedy actor Adam Scott (Tony Engel) - Whose last outing was a very creditable showing the dramatic "Black Mass", he now returns to his favourite genre and although he does well, a more serious role, does seem to suit him better.

Australian actress Toni Collette, does well as "Sara Engel", the long suffering wife of Adam Scott, giving a convincing performance, as the stressed host of a large family holiday gathering.The true star of the show comes in the familiar form of  Conchata Ferrell (Better known to the world as "Berta" from 9 seasons of Two and a Half Men) - Pretty much reprises her role as the very comical "Aunt Dorothy".

Twelve year old Emjay Anthony takes on the biggest role of his young career with the semi-lead as "Max Engel". His disbelief in Santa Clause, starts all of the trouble and he does really well throughout. Austrian actress Krista Stadler, deserves a strong mention for her role as "Omi". Her wise words seemingly going unheeded as the story unfolds, but the rest of the cast learns to listen to her by the end.

The special effects team are the ones who deserve highest praise on this one, creating some very interesting, if somewhat unbelievable festively themed monsters to antagonize the family. This was an enjoyable film throughout, although I found it hard to take seriously with a well known comedian in the lead role.

5.5/10

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