Editorials
How Did YOU Interpret the Ending of ‘Krampus’?
Today, December 5, is Krampusnacht (aka Krampus Night), the night the Christmas demon known as Krampus roams the streets, ahead of the Feast of Saint Nicholas.
So what better day to revisit Krampus, Trick ‘r Treat director Michael Dougherty’s 2015 film that is, and likely will forever be, the be-all, end-all Krampus movie!
One of the most talked about aspects of Dougherty’s Krampus is of course the ending, which suggests that pretty much everything we saw throughout the movie did not really happen. After Krampus kills his whole family and tosses him into the fiery depths of what is presumably Hell, Max (whose loss of faith in the Christmas spirit invited Krampus into his home in the first place) wakes up in his own bed on Christmas morning. Downstairs, he finds his family opening up presents by the tree – happy and still very much alive.
A normal, happy family Christmas is exactly what Max had wanted most, and the film seems like it’s going to end on that uplifting note; all the bad stuff was nothing more than a nightmare. But then Dougherty hits us with another twist. The camera pulls back to reveal that Max and his family are in some sort of hellish snow globe, which Krampus sets down in his underworld lair. They’ve seemingly become part of his collection, suggesting that the film’s events weren’t a dream at all.
The assumption one might derive from the film’s final coda is that Max and his family are literally trapped in Hell for the rest of eternity, doomed to live out that particular Christmas morning on an endless loop; a sort of cruel reminder of what they *could’ve* had when they were alive… if only they appreciated what they had.
But is that what Michael Dougherty really intended to convey? Did he give us a happy ending and then immediately rip it away in favor of a super depressing one? It’s certainly a valid interpretation of the film, though my personal take-away from the ending, as I originally relayed on Halloween Love back in 2015, was that Dougherty was imparting genuine holiday cheer – and a message we could all stand to learn.
The way I viewed Krampus, the events of the film weren’t an extended nightmare sequence but rather a hellish vision that Krampus forced Max to see – think A Christmas Carol, which was obviously a huge influence on Dougherty. Since Max learned the lesson Krampus wanted him to learn, offering himself up to the Christmas demon in the end, that vision, in so many words, did not end up coming true. It would have, of course, if Max didn’t learn his holiday lesson – we know this because Max’s grandmother failed to reverse Krampus’ evil deeds when she was a child, resulting in the death of her parents.
It was immediately after Max lost his inner Christmas spirit that Krampus and his twisted pals arrived, and it was precisely because Max lost sight of the true meaning of the holiday that they came knocking. Max wished that his family would go away, and by taking him on a nightmarish journey, Krampus showed Max that what he thought he wanted wasn’t what he wanted at all. Max realized that, and so Krampus gave him the ultimate gift.
He gave Max his family back.
But how is it a happy ending if they’re all trapped in a snow globe? Well, they’re really not. The way I saw it, that was just Dougherty’s way of showing that those snow globes are Krampus’ portals to the real world. He has one for every family, and when they’re not respecting the spirit of the season, he strikes. He’s keeping tabs on every single family in the world, quite literally like an evil Santa Claus. He sees them when they’re sleeping. He knows when they’re awake. And he damn sure knows when they’ve been bad or good.
As for the bell that Max opens up on that happy Christmas morning, I viewed that as Krampus reminding Max that he’s watching, and letting him know that though none of those awful things actually happened to his family, it was all something more than a mere nightmare – even his family members seem to recognize the bell in some way, suggesting that they too experienced the same nightmare. Should Max lose sight of the Christmas spirit again, Krampus will return, as the family is forever under his watchful eye. The bell is merely a symbol – a reminder to never lose that Christmas spirit.
Though he may not be as cute or cuddly, it seems clear to me that Michael Dougherty views Krampus in much the same way he does Trick ‘r Treat‘s Sam; they’re both living, breathing cautionary tales for their respective holidays, existing for the primary purpose of teaching people to respect, appreciate, and uphold holiday traditions and values.
If you don’t, well, you know what’s going to happen to you…
Having grown up in a religious family, Christian movie night was something that happened a lot more often than I care to admit. However, back when I was a teenager, my parents showed up one night with an unusually cool-looking DVD of a movie that had been recommended to them by a church leader. Curious to see what new kind of evangelical propaganda my parents had rented this time, I proceeded to watch the film with them expecting a heavy-handed snoozefest.
To my surprise, I was a few minutes in when Denzel Washington proceeded to dismember a band of cannibal raiders when I realized that this was in fact a real movie. My mom was horrified by the flick’s extreme violence and dark subject matter, but I instantly became a fan of the Hughes Brothers’ faith-based 2010 thriller, The Book of Eli. And with the film’s atomic apocalypse having apparently taken place in 2024, I think this is the perfect time to dive into why this grim parable might also be entertaining for horror fans.
Originally penned by gaming journalist and The Walking Dead: The Game co-writer Gary Whitta, the spec script for The Book of Eli was already making waves back in 2007 when it appeared on the coveted Blacklist. It wasn’t long before Columbia and Warner Bros. snatched up the rights to the project, hiring From Hell directors Albert and Allen Hughes while also garnering attention from industry heavyweights like Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman.
After a series of revisions by Anthony Peckham meant to make the story more consumer-friendly, the picture was finally released in January of 2010, with the finished film following Denzel as a mysterious wanderer making his way across a post-apocalyptic America while protecting a sacred book. Along the way, he encounters a run-down settlement controlled by Bill Carnegie (Gary Oldman), a man desperate to get his hands on Eli’s book so he can motivate his underlings to expand his empire. Unwilling to let this power fall into the wrong hands, Eli embarks on a dangerous journey that will test the limits of his faith.
SO WHY IS IT WORTH WATCHING?
Judging by the film’s box-office success, mainstream audiences appear to have enjoyed the Hughes’ bleak vision of a future where everything went wrong, but critics were left divided by the flick’s trope-heavy narrative and unapologetic religious elements. And while I’ll be the first to admit that The Book of Eli isn’t particularly subtle or original, I appreciate the film’s earnest execution of familiar ideas.
For starters, I’d like to address the religious elephant in the room, as I understand the hesitation that some folks (myself included) might have about watching something that sounds like Christian propaganda. Faith does indeed play a huge part in the narrative here, but I’d argue that the film is more about the power of stories than a specific religion. The entire point of Oldman’s character is that he needs a unifying narrative that he can take advantage of in order to manipulate others, while Eli ultimately chooses to deliver his gift to a community of scholars. In fact, the movie even makes a point of placing the Bible in between equally culturally important books like the Torah and Quran, which I think is pretty poignant for a flick inspired by exploitation cinema.
Sure, the film has its fair share of logical inconsistencies (ranging from the extent of Eli’s Daredevil superpowers to his impossibly small Braille Bible), but I think the film more than makes up for these nitpicks with a genuine passion for classic post-apocalyptic cinema. Several critics accused the film of being a knockoff of superior productions, but I’d argue that both Whitta and the Hughes knowingly crafted a loving pastiche of genre influences like Mad Max and A Boy and His Dog.
Lastly, it’s no surprise that the cast here absolutely kicks ass. Denzel plays the title role of a stoic badass perfectly (going so far as to train with Bruce Lee’s protégée in order to perform his own stunts) while Oldman effortlessly assumes a surprisingly subdued yet incredibly intimidating persona. Even Mila Kunis is remarkably charming here, though I wish the script had taken the time to develop these secondary characters a little further. And hey, did I mention that Tom Waits is in this?
AND WHAT MAKES IT HORROR ADJACENT?
Denzel’s very first interaction with another human being in this movie results in a gory fight scene culminating in a face-off against a masked brute wielding a chainsaw (which he presumably uses to butcher travelers before eating them), so I think it’s safe to say that this dog-eat-dog vision of America will likely appeal to horror fans.
From diseased cannibals to hyper-violent motorcycle gangs roaming the wasteland, there’s plenty of disturbing R-rated material here – which is even more impressive when you remember that this story revolves around the bible. And while there are a few too many references to sexual assault for my taste, even if it does make sense in-universe, the flick does a great job of immersing you in this post-nuclear nightmare.
The excessively depressing color palette and obvious green screen effects may take some viewers out of the experience, but the beat-up and lived-in sets and costume design do their best to bring this dead world to life – which might just be the scariest part of the experience.
Ultimately, I believe your enjoyment of The Book of Eli will largely depend on how willing you are to overlook some ham-fisted biblical references in order to enjoy some brutal post-apocalyptic shenanigans. And while I can’t really blame folks who’d rather not deal with that, I think it would be a shame to miss out on a genuinely engaging thrill-ride because of one minor detail.
With that in mind, I’m incredibly curious to see what Whitta and the Hughes Brothers have planned for the upcoming prequel series starring John Boyega…
There’s no understating the importance of a balanced media diet, and since bloody and disgusting entertainment isn’t exclusive to the horror genre, we’ve come up with Horror Adjacent – a recurring column where we recommend non-horror movies that horror fans might enjoy.
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