Overqualified cast runs around screaming in misguided Yuletide horror-comedy

“Black Christmas” better watch out for “Krampus” next year. As far as the sobriety test goes, we recommend a good helping a liquid courage for most of these spooky seasonal favorites. Sadly, this loss of enthusiasm among the adults can translate onto children, making them feel like the season’s joy is fading away. Dougherty’s film is appreciably darker, less sentimental, but also massively less soulful: opting to throw the more annoying relatives straight down Krampus’s throat with barely a second thought, it’s only for family consumption in the guzzling sense.

In the days leading up to Christmas, a family of four can’t wait for the holidays to be over. Tom, played by Adam Scott, Sarah, played by Toni Collette, and their two kids have to welcome their aunt’s family into their home. The film stars Adam Scott, Toni Collette, David Koechner, Allison Tolman, Conchata Ferrell, and Emjay Anthony.

Things get dysfunctional pretty quick as Max’s sentimental letter to Santa gets intercepted and read aloud at dinner by one of the visiting brats, leading the disillusioned kid to rip it up and toss it out the window, inadvertently summoning a horned, cloven-hoofed, talon-fingered demon-thingie that leaps from rooftop to rooftop, bringing nothing but bad cheer.

Emjay Anthony plays curly-haired Max Engel, charmingly and effortlessly switching between troublemaker and peacekeeper. Struggling to keep the festive spirit alive, Max abandons his belief in the holiday, only to unleash a demonic force intent on punishing non-believers.

Laying out the premise behind Dougherty’s delightfully dark feature, today’s clip isn’t so much a new trailer for Krampus as it is a concise rundown of the core story.

Then again, depending on your expectations, a modest dose of “Krampus” insane may be just enough, especially considering this year’s mediocre Christmas fare on the big screen. The movie elicits some light chuckles, but too often do jokes not completely stick the landing. This movie definitely falls into the “so nuts that it’s good” territory, and the opening 10 minutes are some of the most insane ever pressed to film. Krampus is not at all like your average family Christmas. What this disappointing movie doesn’t have, however, is any clear idea of what it wants to be, do or say. Like Scrooge, the clan learn lessons about the meaning of Christmas while tormented by the supernatural, and against the odds Dougherty shows very bad but understandable people getting past resentments and irritations to band together (however ineffectually) against Krampus and his cronies. Its director, Bob Clark, went on to make A Christmas Story, so yeah, the man knows his way around the holidays.

That’s not the case with a few supporting characters like Aunt Dorothy and the cousins, and so perhaps a longer running time would help make the secondary characters feel more vital. Either way would be fine, but Dougherty sends mixed messages.

It’s been a bit of a KRAMPUS-heavy day, but can you blame us? But no one needs Krampus.

Anyone who enjoyed mid-’80s horror-comedies that relied on animatronic puppets for their chills and chuckles-movies like Gremlins and the lower-rent Ghoulies-may get a mild kick out of Krampus. He’s got Rick And Morty’s Justin Roiland and Robot Chicken’s Seth Green to voice some of Krampus’s critters, but all they do is squeak and giggle.