Krampus: The Christmas Devil, 2013
A police detective named Jeremy (AJ Leslie) was abducted as a child and now spends his days tracking a series of child abductions across the country that may be related to the legend of Krampus.
As I wrote earlier in this thread, I was mildly interested to see why it was that I'd given this film a 3/10. Typically, and especially for low-budget films, even a movie I dislike ends up with a 4-5/10. Was I just in a foul mood when I rated it? Did it have some really offensive element that I'd forgotten?
But, oh, now I remember.
At almost every turn, this movie just absolutely annoyed me. I could shrug off the use of the stock footage at the beginning. I could maybe forgive the "what other filters/effects can we use?" style. And what's a rough performance here or there, especially in a small-time horror flick?
With maybe the exception of the actor (Bill Oberst Jr.) playing the ex-convict who targets the detective's wife, and the brief almost-cameo from Paul Ferm playing Santa, there is simply no joy on display in this film. And this is a movie where Santa tells a child in a cage that he deserves "to f*cking die". It should be, at the very least, a guilty pleasure. But instead the pacing and the performances and the writing just absolutely sink and momentum. Was that fight in the bar supposed to be good? Or so-bad-it's-good? For me it failed to be either.
But what really annoyed me (yes, it's all coming back) is that I didn't understand the movie. Like, Krampus is supposed to be killing kids, but he also (mostly?) kills adults? He sexually abuses a woman (and who was that woman? Did I miss something?), but kills dudes by
appearing suddenly in front of them? I know that the last time I watched this movie I rewound it a few times because I was sure I must have missed something but this was not the case. It's just a confusing mess. I understand neither the beginning, nor the middle, nor the ending of this film.
I don't mind a low-budget flick with some sense of joy or effort, but this movie doesn't feel like it has either of those things. I would watch
Manos ten times over before putting this one on again.
Infamy:
1/2