Before he was the yang to Saint Nick’s yin, beating the tar out of misbehaving little kids each winter, Krampus was just another starry-eyed student at Alpine University trying to get a degree in cryptozoology. Like all prequel movies this picture shows us the origins of a beloved character that we never needed or wanted to see- from bullies at school hanging him by his lederhosen off the chapel tower and mocking his hirsute appearance being the genesis of his “punish the wicked” mentality, to his dalliance with his free-spirit female art professor leading to his proclivity for lashing people with sticks and chains.
Anchored by another Ryan Reynolds-ass performance by Ryan Reynolds, who was excited to play the character as “Van even Wilder”, this bizarre mash-up of college comedy, horror flick, holiday classic, and dark social satire attempts to have something for everybody that nobody wants.