Krampus, which took the top spot at the box office this past weekend, is one of those fun horror/comedy flicks that might just be a great intro for those slightly older kids ready for their first horror movie.
The story revolves around a dysfunctional family, who come together for their annual Christmas holiday. Young Max (Emjay Anthony) still believes in Santa but is finding harder and harder to stick to his beliefs, especially when everyone around him has lost that Christmas spirit. His estranged parents, Tom (Adam Scott) and Sarah (Toni Collette), host the gathering because they have the big house and lots of money, but when Sarah’s sister, Linda (Fargo‘s Allison Tolman) and her red-neck brood, including husband Howard (David Koechner), drunk aunt (Conchata Ferrell) and their four obnoxious kids, come barreling in, it’s just chaos. Only Max’s German grandmother, Omi (Krista Sadler), tries to keep Max’s hope alive because she has experienced first-hand what happens when you give up on Christmas — instead of Santa and gifts, you get the mythical creature Krampus and a world of hurt.
But it’s too late. After a very embarrassing moment with his mean cousins and squabbling family, Max tears up his letter to Santa, thus releasing that bad mojo into the air and summoning Krampus and his evil Christmas-y minions, all ready to take the souls of Max’s whole family. Now it’s up to the clan to overcome their differences and band together to fight Krampus and regain their holiday cheer. Good luck!
ScreenPicks had a great time at the press day, talking with stars Collette, Tolman and Scott, along with director Michael Dougherty, about the film’s themes, their own Christmas memories and what scary things they couldn’t get out of their heads when they were a kid.
Step 1: Remember their Christmas memories
Toni Collette: “I like my family. I know that people have family members that they don’t really vibe with, which can make Christmas something to endure rather than enjoy, but we look forward to it and it’s really a special couple of days for us where no one has to rush off. And it’s hot there. We swim and eat healthy food and enjoy the feast and then lay around a lot because we’ve eaten too much. And we watch movies. It’s the same as here except it’s a little warmer and we get to plunge in the ocean at the end of the day.”
Allison Tolman: “One of my favorite Christmas memories is that we had sort of stopped doing big family Christmases at my grandmother’s house in Arkansas because we had lots of cousins, starting to have kids and it was just too many people. We were too spread out. [Allison’s grandmother] was going to sell her house. So we had one last Christmas where we brought all the cousins together and their kids, and the aunts and uncles, and we had one last hurrah in the house in Arkansas. That was really special and then we sold the house, and that was really sad.”
Adam Scott: “I didn’t know about Krampus and neither did my parents, so it was just Santa Claus for us. But had they known, I would imagine they would have been smart and used Krampus as much as possible. Cause it would have scared the bejeezus out of me, that’s for sure.”
Step 2: Feel Christmas now
Collette: “I personally love Christmas. It’s a really lovely time that I get to spend with my family. I love buying presents for people that I know and love, and finding something very pertinent to them that I know they’ll appreciate. And I start shopping in the middle of the year, like an idiot. I just love to avoid the stress of it because it can get a little annoying as you can see in the beginning of this movie. It’s really wonderful having my own children. Just seeing the complete joy and awe in their eyes is something to behold. I don’t have dirt to dish. It’s all good for me at Christmas. It’s a positive thing. I really enjoy it.”
Scott: “Now that I have kids, I look forward to it because I know what it means to them. It’s great watching them absorb the myth of Santa Clause, so exciting for them. And now seeing my son slowly starting to figure out Santa might not be real – so sorry, spoiler alert! – and the Tooth Fairy, but I think he’s keeping the ruse because he’ll get presents and money under his pillow. I think when you have kids, it renews Christmas for you in a way.”
Step 3: Discuss movies that scared them as a kid
Scott: “One of my fears as a kid was seeing movies too early, I think. I saw 48 Hours way too early [he was 9]. That’s a pretty gritty movie. James Remar as the bad guy was really scary in that movie. And still when I see him in stuff, I get freaked out. I think at the time, I loved Eddie Murphy, so we thought we were going to see this wacky Eddie Murphy comedy. It’s his first movie so we thought, ‘Oh, this is going to be hilarious!’ It was but it was also a Walter Hill cop-action movie. I just remember being really freaked out about it. And I remember seeing other movies before I probably should have. Remember the mini-series The Atlanta Child Murders. My imagination kind of ran with all that stuff, so I had very real anxiety about people breaking into our house.”
Tolman: “I had a really vivid imagination as a kid, so if I read a scary short story like Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, which is the quintessential book for kids. If I read those, then I’d have nightmares about whatever creature or person existed in those. I love horror films now, but every now and then I catch one that does stay with me enough to have a bad dream. And my boyfriend has to wake me up.”
Like what? “The Ring really stuck with me. It’s imagery more than anything else that freaked me out. I had a nightmare after I watched The Ring and I had a nightmare after I watched Mama. That imagery of that creature and the sounds. Have you guys seen this movie? It’s phenomenal. That really stayed with me. I think it’s hard to make bad guys and creatures that are interesting and that are different. And when they are able to do that, those things really stick in my brain. That’s when I get bad dreams, but it’s worth it!”
Collette: “I was more kind of rambunctious, and running around and being active and enjoying life. I think the fear creeps in as you get older, when you realize how much there is to lose.”
Step 4: Think about how kids will handle this movie
Dougherty: “It’s important to me that this movie is seen by kids. That it’s meant to be a family, horror, dark fairy tale, whatever you want to call it. A lot of the movies I grew up with, that Amblin Entertainment era, that 1980-87 or so. Gremlins, Poltergeist, Goonies, Dark Crystal, just a great chunk of time when movies were willing to mix up genres and they were frankly, willing to scare kids. I think back then, movies gave kids more credit than we do right now. I believe it’s okay to give kids a healthy dose of fear every now and then because you teach them how to deal with anxiety and stress and fear. You don’t always have to round all the edges.”
Collette: “I’ve done a couple of horror films. I don’t like watching them because I like to sleep at night. But this retains its sense of humor. It also has this kind of giddy, kid-like quality imbued in it. The creatures alone. It’s a teddy bear, for god’s sake. I imagine kids are going to love it. It is kind of a family film if you have kids of a certain age. The ultimate message is for those who have lost their sense of spirit and faith and connected-ness of Christmas, it’s about family. This family finds their way. They’ve been completed disconnected and this is them uniting and learning to appreciate each other again and really expressing their love for each other only when faced with the worst possible situation.”
Allison Tolman: “I think it’s a good family Christmas movie. I mean, maybe not all families or kids of all ages, but I think this hits the sweet spot as far as first horror films go. When you want to introduce your kids to horror, I feel like your kids are going to like Krampus. It was clear I liked that kind of stuff when I was a kid because I was already reading this stories, Goosebumps, and whatever. I think this is that right kind of movie, that strikes that tone. And it is also this heartwarming Christmas movie, which at its core is about family togetherness, and pulling together and the holiday spirit itself. It strikes all the right notes there.”