Gremlins meets The Griswalds in this Christmas comedy horror movie, based on the Bavarian folklore legend of a horned figure who, during the festive season, punishes children who have misbehaved in a polar opposite of the Santa Claus principal. While it has the feel of classic 1980 B-movie stock it fails to reach the heights of the classics of that era such as Night Of The Creeps or Tremors.

With acting talent such as Toni Collette and Adam Scott the script and dialogue are all very plain with more emphasis on the back story told by Scott’s Austrian grand-mother Krista Stadler leaving most of the acting talents wasted on screaming and wistful looks when the time requires. The best character is the obnoxious Aunt Dorothy, played by Conchata Ferrell in a similar vein to her role in 2 and a half men.

The effects are the one shining area of this movie as Krampus and his minions look great but most of the monsters are limited to quick close ups when it would have been nicer to see some more detail shown but the excellent the use of puppetry needs to be commended. It’s far from the worst movie of it’s kind but the humour takes away from the horror and vice versa so if director Michael Dougherty had leaned a bit further one way of the other (as he did with this previous effort Trick ‘R’ Treat) he may have had a cult classic on his hands.

DJ Speaks Rating: 4 out of 10