As a connoisseur of horror films, I am always up for any scary movie, so when I heard about “Krampus,” I was pumped. My favourite holiday, movie genre and “Parks and Recreation” actor (Adam Scott, for those interested) all combined? Sign me up!

The movie was more dark humour than horror. If you have no background knowledge about the ancient German folk tale “Krampus” is based off, the movie will be thoroughly confusing until the legend is explained in the middle of the movie.

The movie begins with Bing Crosby softly singing in the background as scenes of crazed shoppers and fighting family members are played in slow motion. We eventually meet a family full of stressed, angry and upset individuals who do nothing but complain about Christmas. The youngest boy, Max (Emjay Anthony), rips up his letter to Santa Claus after his cousin (Lolo Owen) read it aloud and made fun of his steadfast belief in Father Christmas. After wishing for Christmas to be how it used to be and angrily throwing the ripped letter out his window, he accidentally summons the Christmas demon, Krampus (Gideon Emery).

The rest of the movie is full of stereotypical horror scenes combined with cheaply produced costumes and special effects. There is little to no build up (we see Krampus within the first fifteen minutes of the movie) but there is a cool stop motion scene during the telling of the original Krampus legend. There is a plot twist at the end I was not expecting, and humour was cleverly interwoven within the script. Spoiler alert: people die quite frequently.

Overall, if you want to laugh and learn about creepy German legends, “Krampus” is the movie for you. Christmas is the perfect time to hear those slay bells ring.