For those of you who do not know, Krampus has roots that go back further than that of Christianity and he is the more sinister version of Saint Nicholas. This folklore is the inspiration for Michael Dougherty’s 2015 horror comedy Krampus. In this version of the tale, Krampus makes it his duty to punish those who have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas.

While I personally enjoyed the movie, I have heard many negative comments because people are going and expecting a horror movie. I cannot reinforce this enough if you are planning on seeing this know that you are seeing a horror comedy. The film draws many inspirations from the 1984 film Gremlins from Joe Dante.

I find that the film, although was not taking itself too seriously, definitely did not live up to its full potential by being a PG-13 horror comedy. The first two acts are the perfect balance of witty comedy and a slow build to an ambience that is truly terrifying; however, the third act falls apart.

What is odd though, is that Dougherty has had experience with this type of film before with his 2007 film Trick ‘r Treat, which is personally one of my favorite films. I would have thought that he had the horror comedy formula down pat, but unfortunately Krampus tries too hard to be something it is not.

While I do think you should see the film, I would not spend the new up-charge of eleven dollars for a night time showing. I would recommend you go to a matinee instead.