A Christmas Horror Story - A Review

My husband and I watched this movie last weekend, and I didn’t have high hopes. I was pretty sure it was going to be awful but fun. I was actually pretty surprised.

My first inclination when I watched the film was that it lacked focus. Basically, it is four different stories that occur in one place. The significance of that place is that terrible murders happened the year before, so there’s this evil that hangs around. From the cover, you would assume that evil is Krampus, and it kind of is, but there are other creatures that also make an appearance.

The film also incorporates various horror film tropes from found footage to possession to hauntings to creature features to zombies to psychological. As I said, when I first started watching the movie, it felt like it was all over the place with no real mission.

Surprisingly, there was even a scare that made both my husband and I jump. This is pretty rare, and we were expecting it, but it still got us. That made me pretty happy.

By the end of the film, I couldn’t figure out what in the hell I had just watched. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t excellent either—it just was. For the next several days, I couldn’t get the film out of my mind. I kept replaying what I had seen and tried to figure out what it meant. Finally, I think I figured it out. I think I know what the film was trying to accomplish, and it inspired me to write an essay.

While I don’t think A Christmas Horror Story will become a classic, it probably will find a cult following. The special effects were done well and parts of it were creepy. It inspired me to look deeper and write about it, so it wasn’t all bad.

Has anyone else seen the film? What are your thoughts?

I Threaten My Kids with Krampus

As a horror fan, I’m constantly trying to figure out how to bring horror to the holidays. Christmas isn’t exactly my favorite time of year—for various reasons, including the stress—but with two young kids, I try to find something to enjoy about the season.

This year, I decided to enjoy Krampus.

And yes, it totally helps that the movie is coming out today.



Oh, it looks awesome and terrible all at the same time. I can’t wait!

I’ve even started using Krampus to threaten my boys to behave this holiday season. Now, before you find that upsetting or mean, it’s not any different than telling them that Santa isn’t coming—which can be just as detrimental. The vast majority of parents do that to keep their kids in line this time of year. Using Krampus just makes it a little darker and a little scarier—but hey, I’m their mom. They’re used to that by now.

The other night, while we were picking up dinner, we started talking about Krampus and demons. My boys wanted to know exactly what he was, so I told him he was the opposite of Santa.

My youngest asked if Krampus was really real, and I told him he was just as real as Santa Claus. This seemed to worry them a bit, but then my youngest proceeded to tell me that he wanted to be a demon.

We discussed the pros and cons of that, and how most demons are evil and mean and eat people’s souls, so he decided he would be a trickster demon because then he didn’t have to be really mean.

From there we talked about Santa and what would happen if he became a zombie and what he would be named. We decided he would be called Zombie Claus. The boys then told me I needed to write a book about Krampus and Zombie Claus. I told them that was an awesome idea, and that I should write them a book. I told them it could be another Ifs book. They loved that.

We fleshed out some ideas for the story and talked about how the boys would fight against Krampus and Zombie Claus and how they would defeat them. It was a proud mom moment for me.

There’s a sense of wonder and fear with my boys when it comes to Krampus. They are interested in what he is and fascinated with the dark side (just like me), but they are also slightly afraid. It’s just what I need to keep them in line.

Do any of you threaten your kids with Krampus during the holiday season?

Are any of you excited about the Krampus movie?

Christmas "Cheer" - Krampus Trailer

Another view of Christmas....  coming out soon.

'Tis the Season for Krampus

Beyond the cheery Christmas songs and merry little reminders to buy your gifts lurks an evil that should scare every child and adult.... KRAMPUS!

The Austrian anti-Christmas devil lurks to beat, then stuff naughty kids in his sack and carry them away. A perfect short story or book-based character! (You can even get some Krampus ecards to spread the fear, er, cheer!)

On that note, there are some reading suggestions:

   

Just out - Krampusnacht: Twelve Nights of Krampus - 12 tales of evil children - and adults - getting their due.



The Spirit of Krampus - Illustrated - New 55 page tale where  young Skip must track down Santa to set things right in a dystopian world gone mad.

 Letters From Krampus reinvents the Krampus tale making him nearly good again... Krampus was once the right hand of the Claus. Now, he’s just a fading memory who’s been banished from the North Pole Corporation and left to rot in his Cave House while the new head of the NPC casts him in the role of the Yuletide villain. When he discovers that the Claus has disappeared, Krampus rallies his forest friends and the children of the world to save him! 








Check out Terry Gilliam's animated twist on Christmas Cards and the Krampus appearance at the end...