This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Blistering performances.

David Koechner is the worst but the movie is okay over all. I think the elements that look visually dark and twisted are awesome. Everything with gingerbread men and David Koechner and just all the goofy stuff is garbage.

I must admit that I originally hadn't planned to ever watch "Krampus", due to the assumption that it was more of a dark Christmas tale for children (like "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" or "Gremlins"), but then it suddenly became my "annual Christmas horror back-up plan"! For you see, I have this stupid but inescapable tradition of watching at least one Christmas-themed horror movie per year and I still hadn't found a suitable title around new year's! Since I've already seen all the classics and couldn't get my hand on the ones that I initially planned to see (either "Better Watch Out" or "All Through the House"), I purchased a copy of "Krampus" that was on promo-sale at my local supermarket. And I must say that I'm very glad it turned out this way, as this is seriously one of the biggest pleasant surprises I encountered in years! "Krampus" is child-friendly but not childish, and it contains far more suspense, creepy imagery and grisly monsters than I've seen in any other horror film lately. The opening sequences are downright fantastic: to the tunes of a golden oldie Bing Crosby carol, we see a compilation of less joyful holiday sights like crowded supermarkets with people fighting over presents and little kids crying on Santa's lap. It's a nice change from all the usual and fake merry scenes in movies and immediately sets the tone for a different kind of Christmas story. The film further unfolds like an old-fashioned folklore/fairy-tale, with young Max tearing up his letter to Santa Clause and cursing Christmas because his family is fighting at the diner table. By doing so, however, Max summons an ancient creature from the Austrian mythology. Krampus, the evil shadow of Saint Nicolas, punishes the unbelievers of Christmas by covering the entire landscape in ice and unleashing his monstrous toy creatures. "Krampus" feels like a mixture between the comedy classic "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" (dysfunctional family spending the holiday period together) and the Dutch horror flick "Sint" (demolishing the image of children's heroes), and the result is a fast-paced, atmospheric and beautiful film. There's even a terrific animated flashback interlude, explaining the origins of Krampus and the grandmother's first encounter with him. A lot of time and effort was also put in special effects and monster designs. It takes a while before we get to see Krampus but, luckily, he has an army of creepy minions, like evil gingerbread men, elves and scary dolls. With the excellent "Trick 'r Treat", co-writer and director Michael Dougherty already showed his great potential and with "Krampus" he forever proved that he's a multi-talented storyteller. Recommended!

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"Krampus" is an American 95-minute movie from 2015 and if you have heard the name Krampus before and remember the reference, then maybe you will know that here we have a combination of Christmas and horror, in which the scary component, however, is far more dominant than the harmonic component. The director is Michael Dougherty and he is also one of the many writers working on this one. The most known cast members here are certainly Oscar nominee Toni Collette and Adam Scott from Parks and Recreation. I cannot deny that I am not a fan of the latter at all, also in this film, but it needs to be said in his excuse that honestly the material he and most of the other cast members were given here is never that amazing at all. There are also several child performers in here, who are probably not known to many and for me personally, that also includes the kid in the center of the story. The character of Krampus was included in many other horror films already, but this has to be among his most famous inclusion, probably even the number one. We see him in all kinds of shapes and costumes here and my favorite was probably the harlequin skin if you may want to call it like that. But besides that, I also felt sadly that most of the movie was really forgettable. The general idea about the summoning and the background story of the creature not only never had me on the edge of the seat, but never impressed me at all. It's pretty tough to find huge pros in here. I think the runtime was not (way) too long. The ending when it actually seems they kill the boy was bold and unexpected, but sadly they made up for that kind of quality quickly afterward by including a stupid "oh it was all just a dream" story line. I also did not find this one worth seeing from the Christmas film perspective. The only ones I'd really recommend it to are probably those who really really are into supernatural creature horror films although they probably have seen it anyway already. The ending indicates that there may be plans for a sequel (or prequel), but we will see about that. I am not sure if quality, critical reception and especially box office were successful enough for them to really go for it. All in all, my personal verdict here is rather on the negative side too. Gotta give this one a thumbs-down and it is clearly superior to some recent fairly decent horror films I've seen in previous months. My suggestion is you watch something else as this one clearly tries to include effects (even animation in flashback sequences) to make up for story-telling deficits. It's not worth your time.