A Christmas Horror Story (2015)

The four stories interlap, but it's still an anthology film because they are mutually unrelated. Initially, I didn't know it was an anthology film which caused some small measure of frustration during the first half when it seemed that there were too many characters and sub-plots and that nothing made much sense. But the set-up is anyway not as good as the unfolding of the plots, so the film's strengths lie in the second half. There are some nice plot-twists, with the weakest story being the teen ghost-team story, partly because it hasn't got much to do with Christmas, plus it's a far too standard ghost-possession story; still, that girl is awfully cute. Let's see if you can figure out the wild but excellent plot-twist at the end. I doubt anyone could predict that. Not an absurd plot-twist either, which happens much too often in thrillers and horrors.

I can't imagine why, but I don't believe I ever heard of a Krampus before. It's not exactly a brand new holiday season concept, and I'm not a youngster, so I don't know how this anti-Christmas legend snuck by me. In looking up some information on the Krampus, and by association, Krampusnacht, I learned that the demon-like, half-goat of Austrian folklore makes his presence known on December Fifth to punish children who have misbehaved. Since I've never encountered the Christmas Devil myself, I guess I've been doing okay.Well this Christmas movie isn't for the faint of heart. It's a series of four stories told somewhat simultaneously, with a couple of them intertwining before reaching a fatal conclusion. Sort of book-ending the film is good old William Shatner portraying radio jock Dangerous Dan, attempting to lift the spirits of the town of Bailey Downs with good tidings and songs for the holiday season. We didn't get to see much of Bailey Downs, but in my imagination I kind of compared it To Bedford Falls, in keeping with the Christmas tradition.Being a Christmas 'Horror' story, be prepared for a fair share of blood and gore, along with Santa's (George Buza) gallant home-stand against his infected, zombie transforming elves. There's a twist to this story that you may or may not see coming when things spiral out of control to the finale. Let's just say Stormin' Norman the weatherman had a Santa fixation with an axe to grind.If you go for this kind of stuff, the film is kind of entertaining in it's own way. But just like a lot of stories that came out of The Twilight Zone or the Crypt Keeper's vault, there are no repercussions for some of the brutal murders that take place when things eventually have to settle down. What I'm thinking about is how are the survivors of the various stories going to explain things to the authorities when it comes time to clean up all the individual messes. Not supposed to think about that I guess. I think maybe that Krampus has some more work to do.

Being a 'Trekkie' I do have the tendency to watch almost anything the great 'Bill' Shatner is in, so, coupled with my love of horror, I thought this one would be right up my street. It wasn't. A kind of knew that 'Captain Kirk' would only have a small amount of screen time, so it wasn't that I felt short-changed due to him only holding the intertwining stories together through use of his scenes as a radio DJ (which were arguably the best bits!). My problem was with the story/s themselves. Basically, the film is split into four different (Christmas-related) horror tales. This wouldn't bother me if it wasn't for the fact that two of them aren't really that good.Perhaps it might have been better if the stories were told one after the other. I watched this on DVD therefore this would have enabled me to simply skip to the next story if I was getting bored. However, the narrative jumps back and forth between them all. This means that, during the stories that you like, you're just happily getting into when suddenly you're wrenched back to one of the lesser interesting ones.I would say that the highlight of the film (or rather story which appealed to me the most) involves the elves in Father Christmas' North Pole toy factory developing a plague which turns them into flesh-eating zombie elves. Therefore, Santa has to 'kick a$$' and take them down in a way that Rick and Darryl from The Walking Dead would be proud. I quite liked the 'changling' story too, but mainly because I've always been fascinated by this – disturbing – type of fairy tale. However, even that sort of lost its appeal once the lesser interesting stories have been interwoven within its framework.Yes, William Shatner is the best part, but even his rambling brand of comedy wasn't really enough to make me want to sit through an hour and a half of sub-standard Christmas stories. I'd rather just see a twenty minute short of Santa bludgeoning elves to death in front of his mutilated reindeers and be done with it. Pity. Could and should have been much more fun.

This is great - Krampus; The Changeling; Superhero Santa; Night of the Living Dead Elves; Horror; Terror; Gore; and, it's creepy!It's also a sort of guide for parents not to spoil their children into becoming little sh*ts who believe they can do whatever, whenever, wherever they want and expect everyone else to tolerate that bad behavior...Go Krampus!Krampus is the German/Austrian predecessor to the modern-day "Boogie Man." Parents telling children, "Misbehave, and, the Boogie Man will get you!"There are also a lot of twists and turns to this story that you won't see coming, and, you'll never come to realize until the moment they're exposed.Very close to the original stories and fairy tales, except -Krampus comes on December 5th, not Christmas Eve. He also returns the bad children to their homes after a serious attitude adjustment. He's also a companion of St. Nicholas, not an adversary. Santa's 'naughty' list is handed over to Krampus on December 5th so that the bad children will be 'born-again-good-kids" by Christmas Eve."The Changeling" from The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales (they didn't mention cooking the 'eggshell' meal and how this makes the elves come to take the changeling away and return the mother's real child).The writers changed the details a bit, but...Who cares!This is a great movie filled with creative ideas built upon legendary myths and stories from Germany, Austria, and, other European nations.If you have an interest in old European folklore and stories with a moral for bad people and sh*thead kids; or, if you just enjoy satirical horror with the AWESOME William Shatner...this movie is for you.