49
Metascore
21 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75Entertainment WeeklyDarren FranichEntertainment WeeklyDarren FranichFull credit to director Michael Dougherty (Trick ‘r Treat) because this is great-looking movie, filled with freaky creature designs and a just-right mixture of practical effects and CGI.
- 70Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganScreen DailyFionnuala HalliganKrampus, when he eventually shows his cards, is a dark delight, but this film has more to offer than a single monster – Dougherty has a few puppet side-shows, including elves, a clown which comes right out of Poltergeist’s closet and some stuffed animals which are the satanic mirrior images of our Toy Story friends. Ho, ho, ho, indeed.
- 60VarietyJustin ChangVarietyJustin ChangKrampus isn’t especially scary, but it generates goodwill nonetheless for treating its home-invasion-for-the-holidays setup with an appreciably straight face.
- 58The PlaylistNick SchagerThe PlaylistNick SchagerThe film's lack of terror might be more forgivable had it embraced its more humorous inclinations, but the script’s pedestrian liberals-vs.-conservatives, boors-vs.-yuppies conflicts rarely result in anything laugh-out-loud funny.
- 58HitfixDrew McWeenyHitfixDrew McWeenyThere are a number of moments where Doughtery introduces something truly interesting and then never returns to it. Yes, the movie is perhaps overstuffed with interesting ideas, but that can be just as frustrating as a film with no good ideas at all.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckThe Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckWhile the violent sequences are very effectively staged, the results are a strange hybrid that doesn't quite work. Lacking the antic, witty humor of something like the similarly conceived Gremlins or the full-out gore of a traditional horror flick, Krampus never really finds it niche.
- 40TheWrapRobert AbeleTheWrapRobert AbeleThough not exactly a punishment, director Michael Dougherty’s tongue-in-cheek monster movie is hardly a celebration, either, despite initial promise that we’d be getting a niftier-than-usual package of subversive comedy and chills to shake up the usual holiday-movie sameness.
- 40The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottOccasionally funny, intermittently scary, but mostly hectic and sloppy, Krampus tries very hard to be a different kind of Christmas movie.
- 25New York PostSara StewartNew York PostSara StewartSeeing as Krampus is about the Alpine demon who punishes Christmas a-holes, this is a promising start — but alas, it’s all downhill from there, making a murky and humorless hash out of a pretty great piece of
- 20New York Daily NewsStephen WhittyNew York Daily NewsStephen WhittyNo one has been too naughty to be subjected to this reindeer poop.