Michael Dougherty’s Trick ‘r Treat is a Halloween perennial for good reason. It’s a deftly balanced mix of scares and laughs, a long-delayed project that hit every note it needed to when it finally released two years after it first premiered (and the hype had swelled to unprecedented levels). Sam, the footie-pajama-wearing enforcer of Halloween rules, is part and parcel with the season itself, giving Spirit Halloween’s Jack the Reaper a run for his money. Everyone knows Trick ‘r Treat is a classic and nothing I could say hasn’t been said elsewhere. Instead, what I’m here to say is that Dougherty’s other holiday horror fest is just as good, and in some ways, even better than its forbear. Really, Krampus matches Trick ‘r Treat in every conceivable way.
When first announced in 2011, Trick ‘r Treat fans were thrilled at the prospect of seeing what Dougherty might do with the Christmas season. Was it going to be another anthology? Would it introduce another iconic villain? Other than a killer Santa Claus, what could a Christmas monster even look like? Reportedly inspired by an e-card he was sent by friends, Dougherty decided the Christmas monster should be Krampus, a figure originating in Alpine folklore as a kind of Anti-Santa. Instead of rewarding the good, with his birch rods and cloven hooves, he terrified the bad. His origins are difficult to pin down, and different iterations over the years have painted him as both a benevolent giver and a Satan-esque punisher of the wicked.
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Obviously, for a horror film, Dougherty’s Krampus wasn’t going to be a misunderstood baddie. Instead, he’s a gorgeously (gorgeously) practically rendered behemoth. Krampus, nearly seven feet tall, was designed by Weta Workshop who similarly worked on most of the film’s practical effects, including the puppets for Krampus’ legion of helpers and a massive, ornate 21-foot-long sleigh. Luke Hawker, Krampus’ suit technician, remarked, “Performing a seven-foot demon was not without its challenges. With leg, arm, and finger extensions under a suit that weighed over half my body weight, seeing the world through nothing more than a tiny camera hidden in the head, created some hurdles in terms of performance and balance.”
In an age of increasingly digital monsters and baddies, it might seem both pat and even a little regressive to highlight Krampus’ practical effects as the movie’s greatest success. Computer-generated beasties aren’t innately bad, and in some instances like with The Ritual’s Jötunn, there’s no other way. Yet, while CG monsters are sometimes needed, there’s no matching their practical, proximal brethren. There’s something visceral about seeing a frightening visage on-screen and knowing it’s really there. It gives the performers something to physically respond to. Watch any digital effects-driven horror movie’s B-roll and you’ll get a sense of how disconnected it can feel.
Krampus doesn’t just have one monster, however. It has hordes of them. While some, such as the playfully murderous gingerbread men, were conceived digitally, most of the other toys and minions were achieved with remarkable puppetry. The impact, such as in a climactic attic attack sequence, is undeniable. There’s just no replicating the tactile tension and violent kinetics with monsters that aren’t there.
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And, yes, while Krampus uses plenty of CGI, including in some difficult-to-achieve shots of Krampus scurrying across rooftops, the efficacy is by and large of the practical variety, which elevates Krampus’ more conventional stretches. It’s a wondrous showcase of remarkable engineering, no doubt accounting for its longevity as a movie worth revisiting.
Dougherty’s yuletide nightmare is more than a press reel for talented concept designers and technicians. Effects alone wouldn’t be enough to match Trick ‘r Treat’s success. Luckily, Krampus offers considerably more than just something pretty to look at. For starters, its moral interrogation is more dour than most mainstream offerings. The inciting incident isn’t even all that bad. This isn’t someone reading from an ancient book of the dead or traveling into ruins best left untouched. No, it’s Max (Emjay Anthony), tired of being mercilessly bullied by his squabbling family, tearfully tearing up a letter to Santa. That the entire family is violently punished for an innocuous (and justified) tantrum is Dougherty at his most gleefully, refreshingly cruel.
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Rounding out Max is a surfeit of talented performers, including Toni Collette, Adam Scott, Allison Tolman, and David Koechner. Krampus never feels like anything less than the real deal, and while its $61 million worldwide haul would suggest differently, it feels like an event movie, the kind of feature that, maybe 20 years before, would have had auditoriums packed with carnage-crazed moviegoers.
Most importantly, Krampus is scary. While Trick ‘r Treat gets close at times, and Krampus itself has an undercurrent of black comedy all its own, the latter is considerably more frightening. Dougherty’s craftsmanship is undeniable, and he seamlessly shifts from belly-busting laughs one moment to a terrifying, snowbound pursuit the next. It’s a tough balance to get right, though even after a dozen watches, there are moments in Krampus that still make my blood run cold.
Trick ‘r Treat is a bonafide classic, yet while Krampus has its fans, I think it’s time we collectively regard it just the same as Dougherty’s horror anthology. It’s scary, funny, and features some of the best practical Christmas monsters this side of Gremlins. This holiday season, do the right thing and steer clear of Krampus’ wrath by giving this modern classic the rewatch it desperately deserves.
Categorized: Editorials
