The Art of Krampus
Hardcover
Written by Michael Mallory
Foreword by Michael Dougherty
Insight Editions
Release Date: November 24, 2015

Krampus, director Michael Dougherty‘s new Christmas horror film, centers on the European legend, an anti-Santa Claus who comes for all the bad boys and girls. The Christmas demon has cloven hooves and horns, and drags chains as well as the people he comes to abduct. When Krampus comes to town, he doesn’t travel alone; he arrives with a horde of minions, from dark elves and menacing snowmen to possessed cherubs and demonic teddy bears, and much more, all of which were rendered in the film by Weta Workshop and Weta Digital, best known for their extraordinary work on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies.

The Art of Krampus, a 160-page full-color coffee table book from Insight Editions, written by Michael Mallory, delves into the concept and art design, as well as the practical and digital effects for the film. With a forward by Dougherty, who also co-wrote the screenplay, the book begins with the origins of Krampus before moving on to the behind-the-scenes looks at several portions from the film, such as the shopping mall opening sequence, the attack in the fireplace, and the dark elves out in the blizzard.

Krampus
Directed by Michael Dougherty
Written by Todd Casey, Michael Dougherty, Zach Shields
Starring Adam Scott, Toni Collette, David Koechner, Allison Tolman, Conchata Ferrell, Emjay Anthony, Stefania LaVie Owen, Krista Stadler
Legendary Pictures | Universal Pictures
Rated PG-13 | 98 minutes
Release date: December 4, 2015

Director Michael Dougherty previously took the superstitions of the Halloween season and molded them into superbly told stories for his horror anthology film Trick ‘r Treat. Now, the filmmaker takes on Alpine folklore’s anti-Santa in his Christmas horror Krampus. Though it’s a while before the horned and hoofed baddie makes his on-screen appearance in the film, when he does arrive during a massive blizzard, he brings with him an unfathomable reign of terror the likes of which young Max and his family have never seen.

It’s a few days before Christmas, and Max (Emjay Anthony) is finding it hard to spread the cheer this year. After having a physical fight during a Christmas pageant, the prepubescent boy fails at getting his family to follow their usual holiday customs. He just wants things to be the way they used to be before his dad David (Adam Scott) became a busy workaholic; his mom Sarah (Toni Collette) closed herself off and became an overachieving Martha Stewart type; and his stereotypically distant teen sister Megan (Stefania LaVie Owen) hit puberty and stopped bothering with him. Thankfully, Max can still find comfort in Omi (Austrian-born actress Krista Stadler), his homely old bun-wearing grandma who seems very adamant that her grandson finish writing his annual Letter to Santa.

Last week we saw a featurette for the upcoming holiday horror flick Krampus that dove into the folklore behind the demon-like creature who comes to take bad children away.

Another new featurette has now been released called “A Look Inside,” which includes director, writer, and producer Michael Dougherty (Trick ‘r Treat) and some of the cast members talking about the movie.

You can read much more about the movie and watch the video below.

Universal Pictures has released a new featurette for Krampus, the Christmas horror flick from Trick ‘r Treat director Michael Dougherty.

The new video briefly dives into the folklore behind Krampus, a demon-like creature who kidnaps the kids too naughty to be visited by Santa. The video also covers the way the figure is celebrated in other countries—young men will often dress up as the terrifying creature and frighten the local children on the eve of Saint Nicholas Day, though some of the costumes are no doubt scary enough to make even adults want to flee, arms flailing about—as well as some appearances in pop culture.

You can check out the new Krampus featurette below.

I’ve been unabashedly gushing over about how great I think Michael Dougherty‘s upcoming Krampus is going to be ever since Legendary announced that the film was in the works. The director won me over completely with his Halloween horror anthology, Trick ‘r Treat, so I’m excited to see what he does with the Krampus myth.

Now, Dougherty is getting us ready for the film with a prequel graphic novel he wrote, Krampus: Shadow of Saint Nicholas, out on November 24, 2015 from Legendary Comics.

Check out the cover for the comic, along with two interior pages, here below.