Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Krampus Unleashed’

Written by Scott Edwards

Getting together with family over Christmas is something that has been a tradition for longer than I have been around. I still remember the days when Christmas break arrived, and my parents and I piled into the car and made our way toward my grandparent’s house. And it wasn’t just us that made the journey, as my aunts and uncles from all over the country would join as well, making the holiday something special for the entire family. With my grandparents gone now, the tradition of making our trek to their house has gone away, but the love for the family has not and while we do not always travel to see each other every year, the phone calls and Skyping have helped to keep the family together, during and after the holidays.
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Taking their first trip in years to visit the grandparents, Will is happy to have his wife Amber and kids, Tommy and Fiona, along for the ride. Arriving at the house, Tommy and his father are blown away by all of the dead animals on the walls, along with Grandpa Dale’s stories about the beasts that roam in the desert. Seeing that his grandpa is a stone-cold killer, Tommy has no idea what the trip will have in store for him, only that he will not only be seeing them, but his perv cousin Troy as well and the two will be forced to share the same room once again.

Dave is not entirely sure what this trip will have in store for him, but he reluctantly accepts the invitation from his parents to come and visit for Christmas. With his wife Vivian and son Troy coming along, Dave has made it very clear that he does not value his brother’s and parent’s choices, but he will try to keep his mouth shut. Seeing his complete family again, Dave wants little to do with sticking around in the house of death that his father created and gets the boys to head with him down to the local creek to try and pan for gold. Not being able to get Troy to participate, Dave hands the pan over to little Tommy who is able to find something strange in the water, and nobody knows what it is.

Bringing the strange rock back to the house, Tommy becomes very attached to it and Troy notices this and takes it away. Dropping a cigarette next to the old stone, Troy has no idea what he has unleashed upon the folks of the small town. As night falls on the community and neighbor Bonnie hears something strange outside of her window, she sees firsthand the horror that is Krampus. Fleeing to Dale’s house with a story that nobody will believe, the men head out to see if they can find the creature but have no idea what they are up against. As Dave is the only man to make it back to the house in one piece, he knows that not even the police can help them and tries to get everyone to leave as soon as possible. Yet Krampus cannot be stopped as he quickly finds out and Bonnie is left to try and take the kids to safety and she might know someone that can help them, but will she be able to find them quickly enough?

This is just your average look at Krampus over the holiday season, said no one! This beast is looking to feed until his appetite for blood has been fulfilled and I will just say wow, because that is a lot of blood. I liked the group as it got smaller as Krampus continued to feast, it seemed like you got to know everybody better. The dysfunctional family storyline was great, not being able to get everyone on the same page is just something that you see on the daily. With a summoning stone, Bigfoot hunters, a frightened neighbor, a treasure, some blood, some guts, some missing limbs and a Krampus, this movie takes you to places you might not want to venture. While I always like to say that family comes first, this movie just goes a step further in making sure that you understand that and that the Krampus really likes blood. Stay Scared.

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