Movie Review: Krampus (2015)

Before watching The League on FX, I had never heard of Krampus.  But after hearing Jon LaJoie's character Taco singing Krampus carols and running around the mall chasing children as the fabled devil beast, I knew we needed a movie.

The previews for this film made Krampus look like a fun horror film.  The movie is also rated PG-13 so I figured this would make for a fun daddy/daughter day on Christmas Eve.  With everything being Star Wars at the movie theaters, it wasn't hard to find a seat.  The theater was actually empty until a couple of minutes into the film.

The two of us had a great time watching Krampus.  It was a fun horror film that included some recognizable stars along with some new faces.  Prior to seeing Adam Scott cast in this film, I was wondering what direction the film would go.  I was glad to see there was a level of humor to go along with scary parts.

Krampus doesn't travel alone and his helpers made this movie even more insanely fun.  Demented clown looking beasts, psychotic ginger bread men and evil elves assisted Krampus against the family that were not in the Christmas spirit.

Emjay Anthony was the real star of this movie as he was the one who started out with the most amount of Christmas spirit.  As more family members showed up to the home, his spirit becomes broken and a great storm comes along.  This is where things go downhill for all of them.


Although not a huge cast, every member of the cast mattered in their own way for Krampus.  Michael Dougherty did well directing the film and giving screen time to each actor.  Adam Scott and Toni Collette played the parts of parents to Emjay Anthony and Stefania LaVie Owen's characters.  David Koechner and Allison Tolman's redneck-type characters brought along their children and surprise everyone with Aunt Dorothy played by Conchata Ferrell.

While I said Emjay Anthony was the star, it is because of his interactions with Krista Stadler as his grandmother.  She is well aware of Krampus as you can tell by the way she talks in trailer for the film.  She gives us backstory to Krampus which is told through an animated flashback, which seems to be the way you do flashbacks nowadays.

If you're looking for some scary holiday fun, give Krampus a shot.  I know it's not Gremlins, but it's worth checking out.  I'll give Krampus three and a half out of five pile drivers.

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Entertainment Review: w/ Bob & David - Netflix (2015)

Netflix has added to their original content a new sketch comedy from comedians Bob Odenkirk and David Cross.  Many people remember that the duo had a sketch comedy program on HBO called "Mr. Show With Bob & David."  Now with the new show, "w/ Bob & David," we have a new opportunity to see what they've come up with sixteen years later.

"w/ Bob & David" is a different type of sketch comedy as it feels there is a lot of care put into these four episodes.  The characters feel well thought out and the sketches go long enough to not just make you laugh, but also to make sense of why you will laugh at certain characters or even feel bad for them - the "Court" sketch and the "Salesman" sketch are great examples.

Odenkirk, Cross and company are not the types to shy away from controversial clips.  The threat of a picture of the prophet Mohammed, unexpected people in Heaven and the use of the word "cunt" to save lives are small examples of what can be seen within the four episodes of "w/ Bob & David."  Religion has a running theme as you see a Jewish Pope and find out "Heaven is Totes for Realz."

There is a fifth episode which is a behind the scenes look at what went into the making of "w/ Bob & David."  This is a really cool look at what goes into making a sketch comedy program.

"w/ Bob & David" is excellent!  I'm definitely going to watch it again and I'm sure I'll catch parts that I didn't hear the first time because I was laughing so much.  It's fantastic to see Odenkirk and Cross working together and I hope there will be more episodes in the future.

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