“Krampus” is a great Christmas horror/comedy that reminded me a lot of “Gremlins”. This movie is funny, satirical, heart-warming, intense and entertaining all at the same time. It combines many of the best elements of Christmas movies with creative horror imagery. Director Michael Dougherty also did “Trick ‘r Treat”, this is a man that knows how to capture the spirit of different holidays.

In “Krampus”, Max (Emjay Anthony “Bad Moms”) is a young boy that becomes increasingly frustrated with his relatives during an especially dysfunctional Christmas. In a moment of anger and bitterness, he accidentally summons the demonic force of Krampus. Now, the family is trapped by the blizzard outside and an assortment of festive monsters are attacking them.

I really like the family in this movie because they’re believably dysfunctional. I particularly like Max. Max’s father is a little bland but the rest of the family members are fine. The Krampus character is a mythical European figure. He’s been portrayed in several films. The design of the creature here is great. He looks like a demon Santa. There are other monsters such as evil toys and the terrific killer gingerbread men. All the monsters in this movie look fantastic.

Like “Gremlins”, “Krampus” gets you into the festive spirit with its Christmas aesthetics but also contains enough dark imagery to make it an interesting horror viewing too. The film also has an animated flashback sequence that looks really good too. While it starts off a little slowly, once this thing gets going, it doesn’t really stop. It’s a fun ride that I think is actually good family viewing for the holidays. Like “Gremlins” and “Nightmare Before Christmas”, it’s never dark enough for it to be inappropriate for children. However, maybe keeps these films away from very young children. Also, I hear this is probably the best film to date to feature the Krampus character.