Summary

• Krampus horror movies portray the evil version of Santa Claus as a violent half-goat, half-demon monster who punishes misbehaving children.
• Some Krampus movies take a satirical or adventurous approach to the character, making them unique alternate Christmas films.
• While there are a variety of Krampus movies available, the quality varies wildly, and there's a considerable difference between the best and worst Krampus horror films.

The mythological origins of the Krampus stretch back more than a thousand years, and in the 21st century, the evil version of Santa Claus has made its way into many Krampus horror movies. While Santa Claus is a kind being who gives presents to good boys and girls across the world every Christmas, European folklore supposes that Krampus assists Santa by punishing those children who misbehave throughout the year. However, in Krampus horror movies he's far more violent, and across the very best movies featuring the Krampus he's killed many adults and children alike.

In the many versions of Krampus that started appearing in Christmas horror movies, he's usually portrayed as a half-goat, half-demon monster. He hunts down and often kills children and their families who don't live with the true spirit of Christmas. This takes the form of monster and slasher movies in most cases, although many of the best Krampus movies take the idea and turn it into a more satirical or adventurous take on the character. Krampus movies make for some of the best alternate Christmas films, and with so many movies featuring the anti-Santa available, there's never a shortage of festive horror for the holiday season.

10 Krampus: The Christmas Devil (2013)

A Low Budget Twist On Traditional Christmas Lore

Krampus: The Christmas Devil follows police officer Jeremy (A.J. Leslie), who was kidnapped as a child and has to deal with his dark trauma as an adult. He lives in his hometown and continues looking for his childhood kidnapper. When other kids start going missing, he realizes the culprit might be the same child snatcher responsible for his own abduction. However, to his horror he discovers the Krampus is responsible. This Krampus movie is a low-budget affair, but the fact that in this version Krampus works for Santa Claus to teach bad kids a lesson makes this a nice twist on traditional Christmas lore.

9 Krampus: The Devil Returns (2016)

A.J. Leslie Settles His Score With The Krampus

Krampus: The Devil Returns is a sequel to 2013's Krampus: The Christmas Devil. Though both of them have very low critical and fan ratings, the sequel has been described as a much worse movie than the original. The story follows three police officers who try to solve the case of the children from their town disappearing. As they soon learn, this is once again the work of Krampus, who also previously killed one of the officer's wives and abducted his daughter.

Krampus: The Devil Returns offers a finale for A.J. Leslie's Jeremy from the first movie, and ups the threat and action. However, whether this makes it an improvement on the original low-budget horror movie is debated among viewers and critics.

8 Krampus Unleashed (2016)

19th Century Treasure Hunters Awaken The Christmas Demon

Krampus Unleashed has considerably improved special effects over many other Krampus horror movies, though the plot does very little that's innovative with the holiday demon. The story of 2016's Krampus Unleashed begins when treasure hunters awaken Krampus in 1898. After sleeping for centuries, Krampus starts hunting again, and horror ensures.

However, the main story jumps to decades later when Krampus targets a dysfunctional family as he rampages across Arizona. After Krampus slaughters most of the family, the survivors find the sole remaining treasure hunter alive, and he might have a way to stop Krampus and send him back to Hell. Krampus Unleashed is also the first of three Krampus horror movies directed by Robert Conway.

7 Krampus: The Reckoning (2015)

A Voodoo-Filled Tale Of A Girl Befriending Krampus

Though the effects are not perfect, and the story is still mostly a basic horror tale, Krampus: The Reckoning still stands out among Krampus movies because of its original approach to the tale of the Christmas demon. At the center of it all is Zoe (Amelia Haberman), a girl who is adopted by foster parents after her biological ones die.

In the past, Zoe's grandmother told her about Krampus, and in the present day, the girl makes friends with the demon. Once her foster parents start abusing her, she kills them with a voodoo doll and continues killing others with the help of Krampus and voodoo magic. Robert Conway, who directed Krampus Unleashed, also directed this movie.

6 Krampus Origins (2018)

Krampus Is Unearthed In The First World War

The third movie in Robert Conway's Krampus trilogy is also his most ambitious. After having Krampus help a little girl kill people, and then showing it running rampant in Arizona, in Krampus Origins Conway explores the Christmas demon's backstory. The movie tells the story about how the ancient demon came to be and takes a lot of liberty in its creative decisions.

In this version of Robert Conway's Krampus mythos, World War I is raging on as a group of American soldiers find an artifact that can summon Krampus. The soldiers die in battle and the artifact ends up with one of the soldiers' widows, Anna Harr's Adelia. Adelia works at an orphanage, and one of the children, Henrietta (Amelia Haberman) accidentally summons Krampus once again.

5 Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)

Rare Exports an exceptional Christmas horror movie. Horror films are usually not loved by critics yet are favored by audiences, but here the situation is different. The movie is based on a short film, Rare Exports Inc., and is about a company that ships out Santa Clauses to locations around the world. When the company captures who they believe is Santa Claus, they realize they captured a deranged elf, and soon more of Santa's elves show up to slaughter everyone involved.

When they then find the evil Santa, they realize they have to destroy him, or he could bring about the end of the world. While this Krampus movie doesn't technically feature the Christmas demon, its holiday themes place it nicely within the same horror movie subgenre.

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale is available to stream on Peacock.

4 Mother Krampus (2017)

A Krampus-Inspiring Legend Gets Its Own Modern Reimagining

Mother Krampus is based on the German legend about Frau Perchta, who was somewhat similar to Krampus. This witch takes a child each night during the twelve days of Christmas. Mother Krampus takes this legend and starts its story in 1921. Then the movie jumps forward to 1992, but this time the townspeople hung a woman who they believed to be responsible for the disappearances.

The woman cursed the town, saying Frau Perchta would avenge her death. Twenty-five years later, kids go missing yet again. The movie is very gory and quite dark. It also picked up a sequel which is better thanks to more sympathetic and interesting characters, whereas the 2018 original mostly generic slasher victims.

Mother Krampus is available to stream on Peacock.

3 Mother Krampus 2: Slay Ride (2018)

Frau Perchta Returns

As is notably the case with many Krampus horror movies, the Mother Krampus sequel was better than the original. Mother Krampus 2: Slay Ride follows four women in Cleveland, Ohio completing their mandatory community service on Christmas night by delivering food to the elderly. They arrive at the last house and meet an old, welcoming woman, but as darkness approaches, they realize something sinister about their host. What helps this movie stand above the first is the characters, as all four of the women who fall victim to Frau Perchta are unique and well-rounded.

2 A Christmas Horror Story (2015)

Anthology Horror Movie Featuring Four Krampus Stories

A Christmas Horror Story is an anthology horror movie with four stories all taking place on Christmas Eve. All the stories are also connected to Krampus in some way. At the center of the story is a radio DJ (William Shatner) who tells his listeners to stay away from the local mall, where something bad is going on. In the four stories, two students make a documentary about the death of two other students, a police officer loses his son in the woods, an aunt tells her family about Krampus, and finally, Santa Claus has to battle zombies and then fight Krampus himself.

A Christmas Horror Story is available to stream on AMC+.

1 Krampus (2015)

The Horror Success That Made Krampus Mainstream

One of the most successful films about the Christmas devil is 2015's Krampus. Perhaps one of the reasons for its success is the cast which includes stars like Adam Scott (Parks and Recreation) and Toni Collette (Hereditary). However, the real star here is director Michael Dougherty, who previously directed the Halloween masterpiece Trick 'R Treat.

In the 2015 Krampus movie, a boy declares he hates Christmas after his dysfunctional family won't stop fighting, and this summons the demon Krampus to their home to dish out punishment. The movie remains a cult classic thanks to its dark humor and interesting take on Krampus and his minions. Michael Dougherty's take on the Christmas horror legend is easily the best Krampus movie so far, though with the holiday demon's ever-increasing popularity, a new contender could arrive in the future.

Krampus (2015) is available to stream on Peacock.