Review: 'Krampus: The Naughty Cut' Feels Just Right
Six years old this week, the festive and horrific holiday comedy "Krampus" makes its Scream Factory debut with an all-new "Krampus: The Naughty Cut," promising more swears, one-liners, and gore.
To be fair, this dysfunctional family comedy, starring Toni Collette and Adam Scott, doesn't really get any naughtier in this slightly extended version. In fact, as for gore — I really don't remember seeing much. Aside from a plethora of new F-bombs, this is still a strictly PG-13 affair.
What it does well is add more character bits into the film that flesh out the relationship between the parents (Collette and Scott) and between Toni Collette's character and her sister, played by Allison Tolman. The late Conchatta Ferrell still gets the best zingers, and they are usually punctuated by a bit of profanity. And for fans of Dougherty's first film, "Trick or Treat," there's a visual nod in a character's leftover candy stash.
Bonus features the same as before, but with a new Dolby Atmos mix (for those that have that capability) and new interviews with director Michael Dougherty, VFX artist Richard Taylor, and actors Tolman, David Koechner, and Emjay Anthony. The rest are remnants of the last Blu-ray release.
The new cut is also on its own 4K Ultra HD disc with the new Dolby Atmos mix and the same audio commentary with Dougherty, and co-writers Todd Casey and Zach Shields that is on the Blu-ray.
With this new naughty cut release, here's hoping "Krampus" begins to get the love it deserves. It's a wacky holiday horror film like classic horror comedies "Gremlins" and "Ghostbusters." The dialogue is funny, the relationships potent, and that Krampus is one freaky alterna-Claus.
"Krampus: The Naughty Cut" is available now for $39.98 from Shout Factory.