Krampus: Origins

Krampus Origins (2018) is a movie that I recently watched on Tubi. The storyline takes place shortly after World War I when a military officer finds an artifact and is killed shortly after. The artifact is sent to his widow who happens to run an orphanage. When the kids at the orphanage accidentally summon Krampus, the widow and orphans will have to try and stop him.

This movie is directed by Joseph Mbah (Battlefield 2025) and stars Maria Olsen (Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief), Anna Harr (Hot Seat), Amelia Haberman (The Covenant, 2017), Katie Peabody (Lear's Shadow) and Dustin James Leighton (Exit to Hell).

This is not a good movie. The attire and settings are okay, but the acting and dialogue is very average. The plot drags and doesn't have enough horror scenes; but when they do have horror sequences, they are average and disappointing. Even the background horror music is average and Krampus doesn't look like the cover.

Overall, this is a movie that gets stale fast and stays there. I would score this a 2/10 and recommend skipping it.

So bad I couldn't get through it. I tried to hang in there but it just kept going lower and lower.

Krampus Origins tells the tale of how everything started in Krampus movie series. Premise is enticing - where did the monster come from? Krampus movies have been very entertaining so far and a movie set in medieval Germany would have been inspiring.

For my great grief - this movie is not fulfilling the promise of Krampus franchise. First of all, sound mixing.. and everything related to sound, music included, was rubbish. Gun shots and explosions at the first part of the film were muffled, probably recorded at the sound stage.

Lighting and set design all were disappointments. Actors were hired from small town playhouse with a promise of one warm meal a day and credits in the film. Special FX.. these were none. Monster himself, Krampus, was just a horned buff dude with some black paint on him. Probably directors cousin who lifts weights.

I hope that, who ever owns the rights to the name Krampus, would be more careful who can make films in this franchise.

I actually liked the new take on Krampus as more of a human entity, and enjoyed the fact it wasn't just a slasher. Even though it was low budget they managed to cast a couple of decent actors with some credits behind them (Maria Olsen and Anna Harr). The rest of the actors ranged from adequate, to over the top bad. The bad consisted of actors trying to pull off dialects and accents that were beyond their ability, to the supremely annoying and over acted stuttering character of Bram. To sum it up worth a watch if you don't expect too much given the budget, also if you're a gore fan you will definitely be disappointed.

Making this a period piece was really ambitious and its take on the Krampus story is certainly creative but it ultimately falls flat and becomes a shore to get through because of its flawed execution.

Decent production values and cinematography for what it is but lacking on almost every other aspect including the writing, pacing and directing.