The Alpine folk legend Krampus is enjoying quite a surge in popularity these days. The anthology movie A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY, which is playing in limited theatres and on VOD as of today, features the creature; Michael Dougherty's KRAMPUS is set to be released on December 4th; Kevin Smith is developing a Krampus film entitled ANTI-CLAUS; and there are multiple lower budgeted films delving into the legend.
Reaching DVD and VOD on November 3rd courtesy of Uncork'd Entertainment is director Robert Conway's KRAMPUS: THE RECKONING. Rue Morgue recently debuted the film's trailer, which can be seen below, along with the cover art.
Conway's film tells the following story:
Zoe is a strange little girl, with a not so imaginary friend the Krampus who is the dark companion of kindly old St. Nicholas. The Krampus has been unleashed upon a small town and the legendary demon will seek out all the naughty people to punish them at Christmas time. No one is safe as the Krampus hunts them down, tortures them and then drags their helpless souls to the depths of Hell.
The effects used to bring the Krampus to the screen in THE RECKONING are less than extraordinary, but the story around the creature seems to hold some promise.
By the time this Krampus trend is over we might have enough Krampus movies to have a 24 hour Krampus Christmas marathon, but I wouldn't be able to partake in those shenanigans because I can't go a Christmas without watching A CHRISTMAS STORY.