As I sit typing these words, it’s the morning of December 6th, the feast day of Saint Nicholas—and the morning after Krampusnacht. I celebrated the occasion by watching Michael Dougherty’s KRAMPUS once again. Just as I used to conclude every Halloween night by popping John Carpenter’s and Debra Hill’s seminal HALLOWEEN into the trusty ol’ VCR (I’m old school, bay-bee!) I now have to watch KRAMPUS at some point during the holiday season. Watching it on Krampusnacht lent it an even more special vibe, so I’m thinking that’s what I’m going to try to do every year from now on, watch it on December 5th the way I’d watch HALLOWEEN every October 31st.
As with Carpenter’s and Hill’s film, I fall more in love with KRAMPUS every time I see it. Hard to believe it’s been seven years since I first watched it in the theater, and hard to believe it’s taken so long for the film to achieve pop culture saturation. It’s starting to happen; you find Krampus-themed merchandise now in Spirit Halloween each year, for instance. But it’s been slow. I still lament all the action figures and toys that weren’t released as tie-ins. The Jack-in-the-Box, the killer robot, the nasty little Gingerbread Men, and deluxe, McFarlane-esque or NECA figures of those Elves. *Sigh.* Such missed opportunities. At least I have my Krampus Funko.
Hope you all had a groovy Krampusnacht!