Alongside this year’s more expected array of festive fare hides this admirably batty horror that sees Adam Scott and an overqualified Toni Collette as parents of a family battling evil forces over Christmas. Krampus, a sort of anti-Santa devil-goat arrives when seasonal spirit is at a low to punish those who just aren’t feeling it, with the help of some gruesome friends. Thankfully, given the B-movie premise, it’s knowingly pitched, aiming to recapture the spirit of Gremlins as a film that kids might sneakily watch and then regret it when trying to sleep later (a particularly nightmarish child-eating clown should prove problematic in this instance). It’s nowhere near as good as many of the films it so wants to be positioned next to, but it’s nasty enough to leave an impression.
