If you look through the respective filmographies of writer Christopher Jolley and director Jack E. Bell then you will see many choices that make it inevitable that they could work together on a film like Granny Krampus. And if you have seen any of the (many) other cheap Krampus movies we've had over the past couple of decades then you should know what this delivers.
Lea (Jodie Bennet) and Ashley (Poppy Castleton) are two sisterns who visit their gran (Hilary Burns) after the death of their mother. There's some tension in the air, considering how the family members have been estranged from one another for so long, and there's also a family secret due to be revealed. One that, given the title, you won't be surprised to find out involves a Krampus figure, known as Frau Percht. Charlie (Mark Rush) and Daniel (Tom Marchant) turn up in time to be endangered as things build towards a very "bah, humbug!" final act.
This isn't good. But many people who have already viewed many other Krampus movies will already know that. It's not actually terrible though, and certainly not as bad as I expected it to be. I don't want to spend too much time being impolite about the cast members, but most of the acting here is sub-par. That's one of the main aspects of the film that constantly reminds you of the low budget. Rush and Marchant benefit from being given some fun lines in the weak screenplay, but Bennet and Castleton have no such luck, and Burns is, there's no nicer way to say it, frankly awful.
Unlike other films that make use of the K-word in their title though, this actually gives a decent bit of screentime to the featured creature, and there's at least an attempt to make it look better than just someone in a cloak and cheap mask, even if it still may actually BE that, in essence. There are individual moments that are shot decently, considering Bell is trying to deliver some thrills while also hiding some of the many shortcomings just out of frame. It's not enough to make this worth recommending to those after some full-blooded holiday horror, but I appreciate that some effort has been made. It's more than can be said for many other movies in a similar vein.
As much as people may refuse to believe it, despite me saying it often enough, I always try to remain optimistic as I start watching any film. I even approach every independent Krampus-centric horror movie with the hope that it could be the one independent Krampus-centric horror movie gem that makes up for the sewage I have had washing over my eyeballs during past holiday seasons. This is not a gem, but it's also not a complete turd. And sometimes I feel that my optimism is rewarded if I've miraculously avoided another complete turd.
I debated rating this lower because of the acting, but I decided to be relatively generous, considering the careless and lazy trash this could have been.
4/10
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