Christmas has never been more frightening, or hilarious. Krampus is a new movie directed by Michael Doughtery in which it highlights the old German folktale of Krampus, otherwise the evil Santa. Without giving away too much, the box office ratings of the movie speaks for itself, this is a 4/5 movie.

The very idea of making a Krampus movie based off an evil Santa who punishes bad kids is brilliant, and is a nice change from the cliche horror movies of ghosts or demons. It’s different, which is probably why it is doing so well. However, the movie was not entirely for the scares, and it is made obvious by some select scenes. It’s made to make the moviegoer laugh, and be scared. There are some scenes that actually do provide some good scares, and a good creep factor, but are also balanced by some great horror comedy. The characters all have different personalities, and all feed off of each other.

It is obvious in this movie that the cast, crew and director had a ball making this movie. Plus, it also adds that most of the monsters, including Krampus, but excluding a few, are totally practical, and are actually there. There is very little CGI in this movie, and when there is it is actually needed. Also, the music selection in the movie is genius. The use of Christmas music adds a much more hilarious tone to the film, and adds so much irony to the situations.

Something the director also does well with the movie is some great experimental stuff. Instead of black and white flashbacks, they use claymation, and cartoon animation to show a flashback which is brilliant and I loved it. Everything good about this movie is because it offers a change with what average movies do today. It gives off a new feel, and I loved it. I loved the practical effects, and I loved the scares, the comedy, I loved it all.

Now, it doesn’t go to say that the movie is without problems, and that’s probably with the story. There are a few things that are left unanswered. I won’t go into them all due to spoilers, but they are probably something the director, and the crew will most likely answer as time goes on. At times I was confused on what just happened, mainly towards the end, but it takes only a little away from the movie as it is still entertaining. Which is what movies are supposed to do, entertain.

I will definitely look forward to more movies from this director, but I don’t know if the whole horror movie genre is fixed. Hopefully, do to the success of this movie, many directors will want to try to do more monsters, and less ghosts. Surely with more practical effects, and less CGI. Maybe, just maybe, this movie has begun the comeback for horror movies.