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Santa vs. Krampus

It's not Christmas just yet, but with Halloween only a couple of weeks away, the department stores will be telling us it's Christmas any day now. Anyway, it's never too early or too late for a heartwarming Christmas movie. Three directors and five writers have combined to bring us just such a film. Well, not exactly.

"A Christmas Horror Story" is a slightly different take on the good cheer usually associated with Christmas. It features a rather unique Santa Claus at war with Krampus, a European legend with cloven-hooves and horns that terrorizes naughty children at Christmas.

In the little town of Bailey Downs, we watch several groups of people independently dealing with Krampus on Christmas Eve. And way up north, Santa is locked in a battle to the death with Krampus and his minions. Krampus is not obliging to the rules of space and time that the rest of us must deal with.

One family visits a rich aunt, hoping that she gives them some money. Another family ventures onto someone else's property in order to chop down a Christmas tree for their home. Three teenagers break into their high school to film an investigative piece about a murder that happened there on the previous Christmas Eve. Meanwhile, Santa (George Buza) is preparing to leave for his trip around the world to distribute presents to all of those kids who behaved well in the previous year.

While all of these stories are unfolding, radio deejay, Dangerous Dan (William Shatner) is broadcasting his version of upbeat Christmas tradition over the airwaves. We go back and forth to Dangerous Dan in between short vignettes involving the families and Santa. The Dangerous Dan scenes serve as time to catch your breath between the harrowing events with Krampus.

"A Christmas Horror Story" is uneven. Two of the tales work much better than the others. The section where the family steals the Christmas tree is very good, with their extra spooky son stealing the spotlight. The one that works best involves Santa. That's partially because Buza's portrayal of Santa as a swashbuckling semi-lunatic is awesome. If nothing else, it's all good, filthy, and decadent holiday fun.