Filmmaker Michael Dougherty on Krampus, making a holiday horror film and Trick R Treat 2!
Six years later, hes back with his sophomore feature,Krampus.
Michael Dougherty: It was about 10 years ago.
This was the ancient times of the internet before social media really popped up.
And friends started forwarding me the Krampus greeting cards that had started floating around online.
It was sort of just love at first sight.
I always wanted to do a scary Christmas movie.
So I knew back then that there was definitely a movie to be made about the character.
What did you learn about it that you found most fascinating the more you researched it?
Ghost stories were a tradition, and Christmas witches, and monsters and things like that.
It just baffled me.
It just didnt make any sense.
Why would we abandon these fun traditions?
Because November 1stis a really depressing day for me.
Its like Halloween is over and in come the Christmas songs.
But something always felt like it was missing.
And in Europe where they still embrace Krampus, it still is.
People dont know how dark the folklore can get, with Krampus abducting children and that kind of thing.
Yeah, but I think it was always meant to be sort of a playful kind of boogeyman character.
We already threaten kids with Santa Claus.
So there is an implied threat to Santa that he is judging you.
Krampus is just the more extreme version of that.
Right, the black sheep.
I feel like every family Christmas is an awkward family Christmas.
Theres just no way around it.
No family is perfect.
No family always gets along.
Theres always something going on in the background, some deep, long history between family members.
And its kind of relaxing, in a sense.
Did that present itself kind of naturally to you as you were conceiving this…?
It seemed like a non-brainer.
That he will descend upon this entire town because theyve lost their way.
But if you are going to make a monster movie around Christmas, to me that only makes sense.
That to me is also what Black Friday and a lot of the over-commercialization of Christmas really means.
You made a monster movie here thats actually got real monsters in it, real physical monsters.
Great work by Weta.
It was a combination of Weta Workshop and Weta Digital, who are two separate companies.
Was it important to you from the start to have physical creatures on the set?
Ive grown up loving monster movies since I was a kid.
All my favorite monster movies used practical effects and creatures.
I love Jim Henson,Star Wars…I appreciate digital, too.
I just think the marriage of the two is what gives you the best results.
You take away the creatures mystery and its power.
Or the shark inJawsis an obvious one.
You have to let peoples imaginations fill in the blanks for it to become truly scary.
If you only rely on CG, I dont think it works as well.
Any the shark doesnt work moments with any of the creatures on this…?
So there were headaches.
There were puppets and things breaking down a lot.
And the time it takes to set up a shot increases.
So it can be a pain in the ass, but its worth it.
What was the atmosphere you wanted to create on the set?
Theres a tone that comes across in the movie thats kind of gleeful.
I loved doing that.
Of course they knew a creature was going to pop out.
They read the script.
But they didnt know what it was going to look like or how violent it was going to be.
And when they were on set, the puppets had their own tent that they would get prepared in.
Then I would shoot the actors coverage first, obviously.
That way their reactions are just more authentic.
Did you draw on any specific tradition for Krampus himself, like a particular countrys look for him?
The Italians have a Christmas witch who gives gifts to children.
So we definitely have Americanized him a bit.
So things like the elves and the toys coming to life, those were all your additions?
But the idea of creepy toys and things like that, those were our additions.
This movie plays like a dark fairytale.
How hard is it to find the right balance between humor and horror?
Its a Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen vibe that we want to go for.
It was really important to us.
You know, confirm that the balance is there.
The editing, same thing.
Then they are easy to scare again.
All of my favorite movies did that growing up.
And thats just something that really sunk in deep with me.
What are the other horror films you hold in high esteem?
AlienandAliens, that kind of sci-fi horror.Poltergeist,Gremlins,The Omen,The Exorcist,Rosemarys Baby.
There was a great run from like mid-70s to mid-80s, like 73 to 85.
What do you have next in mind?
Definitely kicking aroundTrick R Treat 2, which will involve more monsters.
UnlikeKrampus, that will be an R-rated horror movie in the tradition of the first one, I think.
SoTrick R Treat 2is definitely a thing?
What happened was we announcedTrick R Treat 2as my partners and I were finishing the script toKrampus.
So I went to Legendary and I said, Listen.
I want to doTrick R Treat 2, but we just finished this.
So we all collectively agreed: OK.
Lets getKrampusout of the way, then well jump back toTrick R Treat.
So hopefully that will be the next thing.
Krampusis out in theaters now.
