‘Granny Krampus’ VOD Review
Stars: Adie Mueller, Jodie Bennet, Poppy Castleton, Peter Trott, Mark Rush, Tom Marchant, Claudia Adlam, Jeanne de Rougemont | Written by Christopher Jolley | Directed by Jack E. Bell
Not to be confused with the Robert Conway-written and directed Krampus franchise, or any of the other totally unconnected series of direct-to-market “Krampus” horrors that were spawned by 2015’s big-budget film of the same name. A film that still – to this day – has a LOT to answer for; Granny Krampus comes from director Jack E. Bell, who brought us the great sequel The Cult of Humpty Dumpty in 2022, is back with another sequel here. This one comes from screenwriter Christopher Jolley, who’s written a ton of British genre movies over the years, including numerous films by the prolific Steven M. Smith as well as another seasonal genre film, Once Upon a Time at Christmas.
I say “another sequel” because producers Proportion Productions did bring us a number of previous Krampus movies, including 2017’s Mother Krampus and its 2018 follow-up, as well as Krampus: The Return in 2022. I guess if you’ve done films about Krampus and his “mum,” you may as well go for the family hat trick and make a movie about Granny Krampus – and ultimately, thanks to reused footage, this is a direct sequel to ALL those films!
The plot of Granny Krampus, what there is, sees an estranged family brought together for a final reunion at the old family home for Christmas. However, they quickly find themselves at the mercy of a nightmarish entity from the past – whether they attend the reunion or not – who picks them off one by one to fulfil an ancient family curse. And you know this family is cursed – there can be no matriarchs apart from granny Carla! Yes, all the mothers in this story are dead, leaving only estranged daughters and widowed fathers left to attend gran’s “special” Christmas.
There’s a real formula to the films made by Proportion Productions, Jagged Edge Films, Champ Dog Films et al. Spend 40 minutes or so introducing the characters, making sure there’s a thematic backdrop of dread or suspicion all the while, then unleash the titular character or characters on the unassuming cast and keep the pace up till the film’s close. Surprisingly, whilst that’s been the formula for so long for these films, Granny Krampus throws caution to the wind and introduces our killer Krampus a mere 22 minutes in! To say I was shocked was an understatement.
Of course, that early kill was just to change things up, and Granny Krampus soon falls back into formula, with sisters Lea (Jodie Bennet) and Ashley (Poppy Castleton) “enjoying” time with their grandma before the rest of the family, including gran’s son Charlie (Mark Rush) and his son Daniel (Tom Marchant) arrive. And by enjoying I mean taking part in stilted conversation that does nothing for the film’s script or performances! Thankfully, the sense of dread is there though – along with a deep mistrust of gran and her motivations.
Speaking of formula, we get flashes of Krampus – the first early kill, an appearance in a dream, but it’s not until the final thirty minutes – like a myriad of other Proportion/Jagged Edge/Champdog movies – that we really get to see Krampus in all his demonic glory. Besides sticking to the well-worn patterns of filmmaking, Granny Krampus also unfortunately recycles kills from previous Krampus entries, including the use of Christmas lights to strangle one of his victims (which harkens back to the likes of Black Christmas), which I still think provides a brilliant dichotomy between death and the cheerful nature of the lights and the happiness of the season. The film also utilises far too many flashbacks to other movies in the series too – where the special effects budget was CLEARLY a lot higher than here!
Sadly, that repetition and reuse are the only highlights of Granny Krampus. For this is a film that spends far too long focusing on sad, dour people interacting uncomfortably with each other rather than telling a complete story. So long in fact that it’s a total turn off, making it a slog to get through the film to the horrific bits – which regrettably come far, far too late.
Though I will give Granny Krampus credit for a great final plot twist…
** 2/5
Granny Krampus is available to stream on Plex or rent/buy on Amazon Prime now.
