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A heavy dark paper bell stands beside a glowing fireplace. Torn letter scraps lie by an unlit Christmas tree, with biscuits on a table and snow outside.
A paper sitting room glows with firelight beneath stockings and festive greenery, while snow falls beyond tall windows and the sofa lies in shadow.

Essential Christmas · 2015

Krampus

79/100Festive FactorWhy it scores 79 ↓
UK certificate 1598 min
Comedy · Fantasy

A proper Christmas horror film, and a rare one where the Christmas part carries real weight.

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The CineClaus Christmas score

Festive Factor

Christmas all the way through.

Two paper elves inspect a miniature firelit sitting room with torn paper by the tree, a dark bell on the hearth and gingerbread biscuits beside a snowy window.

A little magic in the making.

Five ingredients make the Festive Factor.
Open an ingredient to find out more.

Christmas in the storyIt can't exist without Christmas.30/30

What we ask: Take Christmas out. Does the plot survive? Worth up to 30 of the 100 points.

A world dressed for ChristmasVisibly Christmas for effectively all of it.20/20

What we ask: How much of the running time is visibly Christmas? Worth up to 20 of the 100 points.

The little seasonal details6 of the 10 kinds of Christmas icon we count turn up on screen.9/15

What we ask: How many kinds of Christmas icon turn up on screen: trees, lights, snow, carols and the rest? Worth up to 15 of the 100 points.

A Christmas heartHow far the ending rests on goodwill, family and belief: partly.10/20

What we ask: Does the ending depend on what Christmas means: goodwill, family, redemption, belief? Worth up to 20 of the 100 points.

A returning traditionA December regular (25,000+).6/15

What we ask: Is it actually watched at Christmas in the UK? Worth up to 15 of the 100 points.

20/100

Cosiness Rating Rating

Cool in tone. Grim. An unsettled ending.

How we score →

Krampus is one of the films our scoring is calibrated against, so its Festive Factor is held at 79. The five ingredients add up to 75.

What do these scores mean?

Festive Factor measures how Christmassy a film is. Five ingredients add up to 100: story (30), setting (20), seasonal details (15), emotional heart (20) and returning tradition (15).

Cosiness is a separate score for warmth of tone, sense of safety, visual comfort, a reassuring ending and how easily you can settle into it.

How the Festive Factor works →
Your next film night

Where to watch

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Streaming changes constantly and we cannot promise it is still right - check the service before you settle in. Streaming availability information provided by Streaming Availability API by Movie of the Night (opens in a new tab). Sky and Rakuten TV data by JustWatch.

The story

About Krampus

A squabbling extended family gathers for Christmas, and the jibes of his relatives leave a young boy so disillusioned that he tears up his letter to Father Christmas. A ferocious blizzard then cuts the street off without power, and with the snow comes a horned punisher from old Alpine folklore and a horde of twisted festive helpers. Snowed in and picked off one by one, the relatives have to stop bickering and fight back together.

The CineClaus verdict

A proper Christmas horror film, and a rare one where the Christmas part carries real weight.

The season drives the plot: a family row sours one boy's faith, and the punishment arrives with the snow. Dougherty keeps it funny for longer than you would expect, and Adam Scott and Toni Collette play the bickering well. Weta Workshop's practical creatures have a handmade menace that computer effects rarely manage.

The ending is deliberately unsettling, not kind. Perfect for the night the extended family arrives, as a reminder that yours could be worse.

The family desk

Can the kids watch?

15

Our take: hold off until mid-teens: it is a BBFC 15 for frequent threat with occasional strong scenes of a family, children included, being terrorised, plus some strong language and a brief bloody image.

BBFC advice: Strong threat.

Content advice & accessibility
Where the advice comes from
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).
Our age guidance
Editorial, separate from the official 15 certificate, and never looser than it.
Subtitles
Check your chosen service and edition for supported tracks.
The people behind the film

Cast and crew

The faces in front of the camera, and the people who brought the story to life.

Main cast

In billing order
Close portrait of a smiling man with dark swept-back hair and stubble, wearing a dark green jacket over a grey sweater, with soft blurred lights behind him.Adam Scottas Tom
Portrait photograph of the actor Toni Collette taken in 2013.Toni Colletteas Sarah
A bald man with a reddish beard and a raised eyebrow, in a light blue t-shirt, seated behind a studio microphone with plants in the dark background.David Koechneras Howard
Allison Tolman speaking into a handheld microphone, wearing an orange cardigan over a blue top, against a grey backdrop.Allison Tolmanas Linda
Tight headshot of a smiling older woman with long red hair and dark beaded earrings, in front of a white event backdrop.Conchata Ferrellas Aunt Dorothy
Emjay Anthonyas Max
Stefania LaVie Owenas Beth

Behind the camera

Directed by
Michael Dougherty
Original score
Douglas Pipes
Writing & production credits
Writer
Michael Dougherty
Producer
Thomas Tull
Photo credits

Portraits via Wikimedia Commons, each under its own licence, approved for this page by a person. Sources and full photographer credits:

Adam Scott · Philip Romano · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab).

Toni Collette · Eva Rinaldi · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 2.0 (opens in a new tab).

David Koechner · Neal Brennan · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY 3.0 (opens in a new tab).

Allison Tolman · Dominick D · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 2.0 (opens in a new tab).

Conchata Ferrell · thepaparazzigamer · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY 3.0 (opens in a new tab).

Michael Dougherty · MUSE TV Network · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab).

Keep the Christmas feeling

Music & soundtrack

That tune you recognised. That score you loved. Take a little of the film into the rest of your Christmas.

The original score album, track by track.

Behind the music. Douglas Pipes composed the score.

About this music list

These are the songs and soundtrack we hold for the film, not a complete cue sheet, and they give no scene timings. Album track lists and durations come from MusicBrainz. Spotify and Apple Music links open the matched recordings; links marked Search open a search on that service. Album covers are each release's own, from the Cover Art Archive, credited under the cover.

filmmusicreporter.com ↗ (opens in a new tab) waxworkrecords.com ↗ (opens in a new tab) MusicBrainz ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Step into the story

Filming locations

The real places behind Krampus. Choose one to explore.

Find it on the mapStone Street Studios, Miramar, Wellington

© OpenStreetMap contributors (opens in a new tab)

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2 places from Krampus

There’s more behind the film.
Explore the next place.

Location sources

Stone Street Studios, Miramar, Wellington · nzfilm.co.nz (opens in a new tab)

Mitre 10 Mega, Petone · nzfilm.co.nz (opens in a new tab)

Map pins mark the place, not a camera position or a route. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), including any pin positions read from OpenStreetMap.

A little more Krampus

Film facts &
behind the scenes

For the fans who stay after the credits.

Movie magic

The horned villain is a person in a very heavy suit

The tall, horned figure was not a digital creation. A Wētā technician, Luke Hawker, wore a suit with extensions for his legs, arms and fingers, and it weighed more than half of his own body weight. He saw out through a tiny camera hidden in the head, which made balance a real problem.

Read the story

A supportive stunt team helped him move around on set.

On your next watchHow slowly and heavily the creature moves compared with a computer-made monster.

Source: Weta Workshop project feature ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Movie magic

A pile of hand-built monsters and a 21-foot sleigh

Wētā Workshop built the film's creatures for real: sinister elves, gingerbread figures, snowmen, a fanged teddy bear, a menacing cherub and a jack-in-the-box. They also designed and fully built the sleigh, around 21 feet long and hung with bells, chains and bones.

Read the story
On your next watchThe toy-box monsters, which were mostly puppets and animatronics rather than pixels.

Source: Weta Workshop project feature ↗ (opens in a new tab) · Weta Workshop project page ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Movie magic

Aiming for the feel of 1980s creature features

The film leaned on older hands-on methods, in the spirit of 1980s creature films such as Gremlins. Much of the creature work was rod-controlled puppetry, which the Workshop's Richard Taylor described as a deliberate return to older filmmaking methods, with Wētā Digital adding visual effects on top.

Read the story

Source: Weta Workshop project feature ↗ (opens in a new tab)

On set

Shot in New Zealand in about seven weeks

Filming ran in Wellington from 16 March to 5 May 2015, mostly at Stone Street Studios in Miramar. Nearly 300 New Zealand-based cast and crew worked on it, and more than 500 craftspeople were linked to Wētā Workshop and Wētā Digital.

Read the story

Source: Film New Zealand ↗ (opens in a new tab)

And at a glance

Releases and certificates
: In cinemas. UK cinema release, the same day as the US opening.
Sources & a note on these facts

Each production story is linked to its source, in our own words. Ending details stay behind a spoiler reveal.

Good to know

Questions about Krampus

When did Krampus come out in UK cinemas?

Krampus opened in UK cinemas on 4 December 2015, the same day as its US release.

Who directed Krampus and who wrote the score?

Michael Dougherty directed Krampus and co-wrote it. Douglas Pipes composed the score.

Where was Krampus filmed?

It was shot in Wellington, New Zealand, from 16 March to 5 May 2015, mostly at Stone Street Studios in Miramar, with the Mitre 10 Mega store in Petone as another key location.

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