Ring in the Horror Filled Holiday Season with These New Photos from KRAMPUS
Writer and director Michael Dougherty, the man behind the classic Halloween horror film Trick 'R Treat, is taking on the Christmas in his next horror film, Krampus. Trick 'R Treat is a favorite film of mine, and I'm so excited about seeing Dougherty's vision of this terrifying holiday monster. I had the chance to see some footage from this movie at Comic-Con earlier this summer, and I absolutely loved what I saw!
When his dysfunctional family clashes over the holidays, young Max (Emjay Anthony) is disillusioned and turns his back on Christmas. Little does he know, this lack of festive spirit has unleashed the wrath of Krampus: a demonic force of ancient evil intent on punishing non-believers. All hell breaks loose as beloved holiday icons take on a monstrous life of their own, laying siege to the fractured family’s home and forcing them to fight for each other if they hope to survive.
When talking about the evil shadow of Santa Claus with USA Today, Dougherty says he's more than just evil:
“He’s more complex and nuanced than that. He’s not Freddy (A Nightmare on Elm Street) or Jason (Friday the 13th) or Leatherface (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), this unstoppable monster that kicks down your door and rampages and grabs you. If you study the myth, there’s something darkly playful about him. He’s having a good time doing what he does and he enjoys the cat-and-mouse aspect of it.”
Even though the film is going to be filled with nightmarish scares, he explains that he also wanted to tap into the heartwarming aspects of the season:
"A Christmas Carol and It’s A Wonderful Life are kind of nightmares that show you these broken characters who experience a darker side of divine intervention. They need to be scared straight. So it was important to elevate it. If you do a horror film without an emotional core, you don’t really have much."
The horror film also stars Adam Scott, Toni Collette, David Koechner, Allison Tolman, Conchata Ferrell, Stefania Lavie Owen, and Krista Stadler.
The special effects and creature designs for the film were created by Weta Workshop and Weta Digital, who as you know worked on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, King Kong, and more.
The film will be released by Universal Pictures December 4th, and I can't wait!