Things In Krampus You Only Notice After Watching It More Than Once

Thanks to filmmaker Michael Dougherty, the horrors of Halloween don't have to end every October 31. Adapted from German folklore, Dougherty's 2015 cult classic "Krampus" injected Christmas with a dash of the cinematic horrors, demons, and creatures that plague All Hallow's Eve. 

Krampus isn't a mere demon, mind you — he's a tormenter hailing from the deepest, darkest bowels of hell, on a quest to wreak punishment on the cruel, vindictive, and greedy among us. If German myths were to be believed, a lump of coal for your awful misdeeds would be a cakewalk compared to what the Krampus would impose.

Following on the heels of the Dougherty holiday cult film "Trick 'r Treat," this one moved its seasonal terrors to the month of December. Similarly stuffed with dark humor, campy delight, and monster mayhem, like "Trick" it came with lessons warning viewers to honor and cherish their holiday traditions.

"Krampus" had a demon terrorizing an awful family, who despised one another and feigned familial platitudes in an effort to keep up appearances. Therein lies the dark humor that elicits as many chuckles as shrieks of terror as contemptible people receive just desserts that are far worse than figgy pudding. The flick also has a lot going on beneath the surface, little details you may not have noticed upon first viewing. With that in mind, here's a festive breakdown of the holiday horrors buried beneath "Krampus."

It's not unheard of to use the setting of a child's room as an opportunity for a filmmaker to share Easter eggs of his work or connections to other films or properties. In the original "Poltergeist," "The Princess Bride" and "ET," the children's rooms are filled with posters and toys referencing everything from "Star Wars" to "Alien."

Multiple items are similarly scattered throughout young Max's room in "Krampus." Since the movie is produced by Legendary Pictures, it makes sense the boy would have a toy figure of a Jaeger from "Pacific Rim" on his desk. On his bulletin board, countless handmade items can be seen scattered amongst things like a "Rick and Morty" poster. Max is also, apparently a fan of the video game "Minecraft," as merchandise can be seen sitting on his dresser. 

While "Krampus" is often played for fun, laughs, and a few frights, there are a few subtleties that anchor the overall themes of the story. One involves a key element of Christmas, the advent calendar.

In the middle of the film, Omi (Krista Stadler) tells the family of her past experience with the darkness known as Krampus, represented through a beautifully animated flashback. As a young child, she lived in a village whose occupants had descended into bitter selfishness. Her parents cast a dark shadow on her youthful Christmas experience one that caused her to turn her back on the Christmas spirit (much like Max), casting her Santa doll into the fire. That night, Krampus came for her family and dragged them to the depths of hell, leaving her alive to forever remember what had transpired.

When Omi sits frightened in her bed, eagle-eyed viewers can spot Max's same exact advent calendar hanging on the wall of her bedroom. Of course, this means that Max obtained his advent calendar from his grandmother — and it acts as a symbolic framework of the three different acts, also segmented by the period of three days in which the film takes place. 

Omi's animated flashback also highlights the Krampus bell she received from the demon. That same bell is then gifted to Max by the Krampus in the final moments of the film, reminding him and the rest of the family that darkness will once again emerge if they return to their callous ways.

The origins of the Krampus are steeped in mystery. Omi states that the beast had been doing his dirty work for thousands of years. When we finally have a chance to see the Krampus up close, however, it looks like a hulking, ragged corpse of an old man (at least, in the face). 

But in actuality, the demon's face doesn't exactly line up with the rest of his features, which include curving demonic horns and hairy legs with hooves. That's because the face of the old man — a twisted play on Santa Claus — is not actually the real face of the Krampus.

To make the lore behind the story that much darker, the filmmakers confirmed in the film commentary that the face of the Krampus is another person's face, which the demon wears as a mask. If you study the creature's facial features, you can see that his eyes are goat-like in appearance, and there is a lining around his eyes that indicate the skin is not his own. This explains why the jaw is agape. 

What does the Krampus truly looks like? Perhaps that's territory for a sequel. But if the goat eyes, hooves, and horns are any indication, he likely looks somewhat akin to the Satanic visage of Baphomet.

On December 7, 2021, the "Naughty Cut" edition of the film was released, which adds approximately four extra minutes of content originally left on the cutting room floor for the theatrical release. Ultimately, this acts as Dougherty's true director's cut. Fans of "Trick 'r Treat" will be pleased with one scene, it seems, in particular, that helps to further establish Sam and Krampus exist in the same universe. 

While the family is huddled in the living room during the power outage, Max fetches a box containing his leftover Halloween candy. Despite the torment his cousins put him through, Max's kind heart has him sharing some of the goodies with them. When he opens the box, the recognizable jack-o'-lantern lollipop carried around by Sam can be seen. Who knows? Perhaps Sam and Krampus hang out at the same Underworld bar, shooting the breeze and comparing body counts every now and again.

"Krampus" hints at a world beyond the cabin fever experienced by the Engle family — but whether this is all some alternate reality meant to terrorize the Engels, or whether Krampus really did invade the neighborhood may never be known. 

If you take the film on its surface level, the entire community was desolate, aside from the frozen corpse of a delivery driver. In the "Naughty Cut" of the film, it's clear that the blizzard affected a large area — and a radio weather advisory explains just how far the snow stretches.

One of the towns listed in the advisory is Warren Valley — a fictional town in Ohio and Sam's old stomping grounds. Therefore Principal Wilkins, the werewolves, the undead children from the bus accident, and more would seem to reside somewhere in the vicinity of Max and the Engel household.

One of Hollywood's longest-running inside jokes, the Wilhelm scream (which originated in the 1951 film "Distant Drums"), can be found in "Krampus." 

The piercing, two-second shriek of a man falling to his death (or being attacked, or in pain — its versatility is why it has endured so long) has had its audio re-purposed in an estimated 400 movies over the years. The name is derived from one of those early occurrences, 1953's "Charge at Feather River," where it was attributed to an ill-fated character by the name of Private Wilhelm. 

Eventually, the sound effect circulated through Hollywood enough to become a stock effect, used as the go-to scream, particularly for characters befalling bad turns of fate off-camera. Films that have utilized the scream include "Star Wars" (in virtually every iteration up to "Episode VII"), "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," "Game of Thrones" and even the videogame "Red Dead Redemption." Fun fact: it is believed that the voice of the scream belongs to none other than the late Sheb Wooley, singer of the 1958 novelty hit "The Purple People Eater."

As for "Krampus," you can hear old Private Wilhelm during an explosive scene where the parents understand the nature of the horror that has befallen them, and they are attacked by several demonic toys. During the ensuing attack, listeners can hear the Wilhelm scream when the teddy bear is tossed over a railing.