This is the third Krampus film written by Robert Conway. The first - Krampus: The Reckoning - was reasonably entertaining, but had a really bad CGI Krampus. The second - Krampus Unleashed - had a really dumb script, but at least gave us a practical make-up FX Krampus and lots of gore. For most of Origins, which has the worst script of them all, I was wondering whether the film even had a Krampus: it takes an age to get to the monster, and it really isn't worth the wait.
The first half an hour of the film tells how a magical book with the power to summon the Christmas Devil comes into the possession of schoolteacher Josephine (Katie Peabody), who has started working at a Catholic school for orphans in Arizona. This part of the film could have been wrapped up in less than ten minutes, but then the film would have been barely over an hour long (which would have been fine by me). The book gets into the hands of one of the school kids, who translates the ancient German text and summons Krampus, which manifests itself as a surly looking kid called Nicholas, who turns up on the school's doorstep at night and is taken in by the nuns.
There's not an ounce of the trashy fun of the second film, director Joseph Mbah aiming for either 'classy' or 'atmospheric', but missing both by a mile. He does, however, hit 'boring' and 'tedious' without difficulty, making the first two films seem like masterpieces in comparison. After an hour of forgettable, uneventful drama, we finally get to see Krampus, and a more crappy creature it would be hard to imagine: a man painted black wearing a horned helmet and with cheap-looking After Effects glowing eyes, Krampus just stands there, talking in a stupid demonic voice, ending each sentence with an extended, deep, guttural sound that is more laughable than terrifying.
After threatening to devour their souls and destroy the world, or some such nonsense, the pathetic monster is defeated by Josephine, who is protected by a handy amulet and who has conveniently been learning ancient Germanic languages as a hobby, thereby enabling her to read from the book and banish Krampus back to hell.
1.5/10, rounded down to 1 for using the font Helvetica on the school blackboard, a typeface that wasn't designed until several decades after the film is set.
The first half an hour of the film tells how a magical book with the power to summon the Christmas Devil comes into the possession of schoolteacher Josephine (Katie Peabody), who has started working at a Catholic school for orphans in Arizona. This part of the film could have been wrapped up in less than ten minutes, but then the film would have been barely over an hour long (which would have been fine by me). The book gets into the hands of one of the school kids, who translates the ancient German text and summons Krampus, which manifests itself as a surly looking kid called Nicholas, who turns up on the school's doorstep at night and is taken in by the nuns.
There's not an ounce of the trashy fun of the second film, director Joseph Mbah aiming for either 'classy' or 'atmospheric', but missing both by a mile. He does, however, hit 'boring' and 'tedious' without difficulty, making the first two films seem like masterpieces in comparison. After an hour of forgettable, uneventful drama, we finally get to see Krampus, and a more crappy creature it would be hard to imagine: a man painted black wearing a horned helmet and with cheap-looking After Effects glowing eyes, Krampus just stands there, talking in a stupid demonic voice, ending each sentence with an extended, deep, guttural sound that is more laughable than terrifying.
After threatening to devour their souls and destroy the world, or some such nonsense, the pathetic monster is defeated by Josephine, who is protected by a handy amulet and who has conveniently been learning ancient Germanic languages as a hobby, thereby enabling her to read from the book and banish Krampus back to hell.
1.5/10, rounded down to 1 for using the font Helvetica on the school blackboard, a typeface that wasn't designed until several decades after the film is set.