Krumpas

Ah, it's that classic of all Christmas stories... where anti-Santa comes to terrify everyone!

It's always a fun time when the relatives come, and when the aunt and her family come to stay for a few days, Max has one tease too much and tears up his letter to Santa... and calls the other Santa. Which, if you know titles, is Krampus. He's all about the presents and the snow and bringing families together... in terror. Oh, how heartwarming! By which I mean the heart is sped up by adrenaline from the cute monster attacks. Yeah, this is clearly heading for a happy ending.

And the ending is tricky. It nearly sticks the landing, then goes into a nose dive, before touching down properly. The story plays out well, and doesn't respect anyone in terms of going after both the likeable and unlikeable. And it speaks to good construction that characters can go from the latter to the former. And we get some good performances, even from the kids, but I'm giving best performance to Krista Stadler with second to Conchata Ferrell.

And this was made in New Zealand. Not by an NZ company, but locations were here. And they got a Screen Production Grant, of course. And, as you'd then expect, Weta was involved. The effects were decent, and as for Krampus himself... very nearly, but then they stay far too long on his face, and... just looks like a non-articulated mask that got stuck in a stupid pose.

This is a comedy/horror and it tracks the line far better than You're Next. Check it out for a different take this holiday get-together.

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