Characters / Krampus

Human characters

Tom

Tom

Played By: Adam Scott

• Action Survivor: He might be a suburban dad, but when Krampus comes-a-knockin' he steps up in an impressive way.
• Deadpan Snarker: As befitting a character played by Adam Scott.
• Decoy Protagonist: Tom gets the significant amount of focus, however, the real main character is his son Max. Played with even further with Tom when he was the grabbed by the underground snow beast near the end of the movie before his wife, sister-in-law and niece were taken too.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He lets himself get grabbed by the underground snow beast so that his surviving family members can reach the snowplow.
• Only Sane Man: In the whole family, as everyone is preoccupied with arguing with each other over petty things yet he maintains a calm composure and vows to keep the peace.
• Papa Wolf: He will do literally anything to protect his children.
• Senseless Sacrifice: His sacrifice ends up being pointless as not only are the surviving family members grabbed by the underground snow beast, but the snowplow didn't work because of a dead battery.

Sarah

Sarah

Played By: Toni Collette

• Action Mom: Though not to the same degree as Linda, she does what she can when all hell breaks loose. And is the first one to try and pull Howie Jr. out of the fireplace, holding on the longest and only letting go when the gingerbread man scares her.
• Control Freak: She's seen to be very stressed out at the beginning of the film, and the other characters make comments about her need to have everything be perfect.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She is an uptight and insecure Control Freak with traces of being Stepford Smiler at the beginning of the movie when Howard's and Linda's family arrived, but is indeed a loving mom.
• Mama Bear: Even with all of the dangerous creatures running loose, she vows to find Beth.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: She delivers a small one to Dorothy in the beginning of the film, interrupting Dorothy's complaints and telling her if she's gonna bitch about all the work Sarah's done, next year everyone can show up unannounced to Dorothy's trailer for Christmas and then spend every second criticizing Dorothy. Dorothy seems genuinely hurt by this.

Howard

Howard

Played By: David Koechner

• Action Survivor: He holds his own against the monsters.
• Deadpan Snarker: He tends to be pretty blunt.
• Failed a Spot Check: He ends up falling asleep when he's on watch. This leads to his son, Howie Jr., being taken.
• Gun Nut: Enjoys shooting, and brought along some guns for the trip just in case.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Sacrifices his own life in an attempt to rescue his baby daughter.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Howard is crass, overbearing, rude and obnoxious. It's also implied that he's displeased with having two daughters and only one son. Despite this, he's a loving father who's willing to admit when he's wrong.
• Papa Bear: He tackles Der Klown when it kidnaps his baby daughter.
• Shotguns Are Just Better: Wields a shotgun throughout the movie.
• Straw Character: He falls under a lot of stereotypes associated with Right-Wingers and American gun-culture; rural, brings his firearms everywhere, has too many kids, has nothing but criticisms towards Tom and his different type of masculinity, chomps at the bit to hunt and kill to protect his family, etc.

Linda

Linda

Played By: Allison Tolman

• Action Mom: Turns out the Hand Cannon revolver Howard had in his truck along with his trusty shotgun belongs to her.
• Foreshadowing: Sarah jokingly remarks that Linda fights dirty, and that she herself still has the scars from their childhood fights. Then comes the scene in the attic, where Linda takes an icicle to the evil teddy bear who's mauling her, putting its eye out.
• Mama Bear: Seeing one of her daughters in danger is what triggers her moment of heroism in the attic: after stabbing the teddy bear that's been mauling her, she picks up an axe, cuts the strand of lights being used to strangle Sarah, knocks away the toy robot stabbing Tom, and sends Der Klown running before it can consume Stevie.
• Shaking Her Hair Loose: She yanks off her hairband before going to town on Krampus's helpers.

Omi

Omi

Played By: Krista Stadler

• Cool Old Lady: Compared to the rest of the family, barring her son, she's level-headed and tells them what they're all up against.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Had an encounter with Krampus once before, which still haunts her to this day.
• Heroic Sacrifice: After acknowledging that she may well have brought the family to Krampus's attention in the first place, and feeling guilt over what happened to her birth family, she decides to face him down. As it turns out, stopping to kill her doesn't even break his stride.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: She brought Krampus to her town when she destroyed her Santa doll. It runs in the family.

Dorothy

Aunt Dorothy

Played By: Conchata Ferrell

• The Alcoholic: She seen drinking in pretty much every scene she's in.
• Child Hater: She admits the other adults that she doesn’t like children, even when she was one herself.
• Deadpan Snarker: And how!
• Face Death with Dignity: Gives out a See You in Hell send off before she is taken away.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: At first, everyone (especially Sarah) despised Dorothy especially since Dorothy did nothing but complain about the food Sarah made. But later on, Dorothy proves handy with a shotgun in keeping away Krampus's toys and the whole family cheers for her.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: She's the only one whose act after Max opens the package containing the Krampus Bell, stirring everyone's haunting memory of what happened is shown, and it's to add another shot from her flask to her mug of eggnog.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She is an alcoholic Fat Slob with a bellyful of Deadpan Snarkers, but she does cares for her family in her own way, even eventually towards her nieces and nephews when she bonds with them despite being a proclaimed Child Hater even towards herself when she was little.
• Pet the Dog: When Max runs to his room after his letter is read out loud, Dorothy tells the others to lay off him since he's just being honest.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Complains to Sarah for not providing ham for dinner and calls her a "Jew".
• Ungrateful Bitch: This prompts Sarah to retort that Dorothy is lazy and ungrateful for the dinner that Sarah worked long and hard for to make.

Max

Max

Played By: Emjay Anthony

• Establishing Character Moment: He is introduced getting in a fight in the middle of a Christmas pageant. When probed by his parents, he did it because his peers were trying to ruin Christmas for the younger students at his school by telling them there is no Santa Claus. This establishes him as an ill-tempered, but well-meaning kid who is Wise Beyond Their Years and has trouble processing the little cruelties of those around him.
• Paper Destruction of Anger: What he does with his letter to Santa after a fight breaks out at dinner between him and his cousins.
• Take Me Instead: When he faces Krampus and wishing for his family back.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Much like his grandmother, he loses faith in the Christmas spirit, which draws Krampus.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Is very astute and observant for someone his age, and his letter to Santa demonstrates he's got a better understanding of how unhappy his parents and relatives really are. He's even aware that Howard treats Stevie and Jordan like boys because he most likely wishes they were.

Beth

Beth

Played By: Stefania LaVie Owen

• Final Girl: Subverted. She's clearly set up to be this - she's the pretty, confident teenage daughter, slightly bratty when forced to interact with her extended family but generally loving to her parents and brother. Though she's been more distant to them lately it's natural as she's trying to forge her own identity, and to that end has a nice, steady boyfriend... sound familiar from every horror film ever? Then you'll be surprised to learn that she's the first to get killed off.
• Sacrificial Lamb: Gets taken out pretty early in the film.

Howie Jr.

Howie Jr.

Played By: Maverick Flack

• Big Eater: A bit heavyset, and is willing to eat an ominous cookie.
• Thousand-Yard Stare: His only expression is a perpetual stare.
• Too Dumb to Live: Taking a bite out of gingerbread cookie, that's attached to a hook, that's hanging from the fireplace might not be a good idea.

Jordan

Jordan

Played By: Queenie Samuel

• Eaten Alive: By the Jack-in-the-Box.
• Fat and Skinny: With her sister Stevie. She is the muscle of the group at first holding back her cousin when they get into a fight.
• Freudian Excuse: It's hinted that the reason she and Stevie act like rough-and-tumble tomboys is because they're vaguely aware of their father's preference for boys.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She and Stevie picks on Max for believing in Santa Claus at the beginning of the film, but then bonds with him later on when they are terrorized by Krampus. She's also the first of the kids to be concerned when she thinks something took her cousin Beth.
• Tomboy: It is implied that Howard wished for her and her sister to be boys, so he raised them like such.

Stevie

Stevie

Played By: Lolo Owen

• Fat and Skinny: With her sister Jordan. She is the brains of the duo instigating the tormenting at the dinner table.
• Freudian Excuse: It's hinted that the reason she and Jordan act like rough-and-tumble tomboys is because they're vaguely aware of their father's preference for boys.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She and Jordan picks on Max for believing in Santa Claus at the beginning of the film, but then bonds with him later on when they are terrorized by Krampus.
• Paper Tiger: Despite being a tomboy, knowing how to use a gun, and being enrolled in military camps, Stevie is scared to go upstairs in the dark by herself.
• Tomboy: It is implied that Howard wished for her and her sister to be boys, so he raised them like such.

Chrissy

Chrissy

Played By: Sage Hunefeld

• Companion Cube: As a baby too young to even speak, she spends most of the movie being carried by her mother or Dorothy. When it comes down to it, even the family dog is better able to fight back against Krampus than Chrissy is, sadly.
• Death of a Child: Possibly one of the youngest visible characters ever to get killed off in cinematic history. Though to be fair her "death" scene shows her being carried off by Krampus and is not in any way violent or gory, just... really distressing in context.

Monsters

Krampus

Krampus

Played By: Luke Hawker & Gideon Emery

• Acrofatic: Krampus is an enormous, hunchbacked mass of robes, horns, hooves and chains. Nevertheless, he can leap buildings with ease and cannot be outrun.
• Adaptational Badass: The original legends of Krampus portray him as a demon who works for St. Nicholas, but here he's even older than Santa Claus who operates on his own.
• Adaptational Villainy: The original legends tend to portray Krampus as doing his duty, punishing children for the greater good. Here, he's a malicious sadist. He accomplishes the same goal in the end, punishing a group of seriously unlikable people for the greater good, but this version appears a lot more brutal then the original which given his fable origins is really saying something.
• Ancient Evil: Omi describes him as such, being a spirit that predates Santa Claus for thousands of years. Considering the folklore of Krampus has Pagan roots, this makes sense.
• Anti-Villain: Deconstructed, though he and his henchmen only target the naughty, it is a severe case of Disproportionate Retribution, not to mention how they get perverse joy out of it or how they have no problem attacking innocents who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time like the postman, or how he reacts to Max's attempt at a Take Me Instead. That said, some of his behavior toward Omi in the flashback, and Max in the present, seems to imply that he believes he’s doing his charges a favor; by taking away the source of their misery and loss of faith, whether they want him to or not.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Regardless of how you interpret the ending, Krampus remains victorious.
• Bag of Kidnapping: Like in the original legend, Krampus carries a sack to kidnap people.
• Beast with a Human Face: Subverted. He appears to have a horrifying mockery of Santa Claus' face — it looks like someone slathered melted human skin over an inhuman skull — but upon closer inspection of the official Weta statuette◊, it's a mask of some kind that he wears to hide his true monstrous form. Concept art confirms◊ that it's also definitely Genuine Human Hide. At the very best he looks like the modern Coca-Cola Santa after rigor mortis set in.
• Big Bad: Well, obviously.
• Creepy Long Fingers: He has very thin, clawed fingers.
• Dark Is Evil: He's very clearly the bad guy due to his colour motifs.
• Exotic Eye Designs: His pupils are shaped like a goat's, although more jagged.
• Humanoid Abomination: Krampus is described as a several thousand-year-old demonic entity who delights in punishing and killing the naughty. He also has near godlike power, being capable of causing blizzards just with his presence alone.
• Knight of Cerebus: While the film wasn't that bright to begin with it still had plenty of comedic moments and even the toys and elves are rather comedic. But the MOMENT Krampus himself enters the scene the laughter and comedy just stops and is treated as seriously as anything like him should be treated. As a dangerous and terrifying entity that you cannot stop.
• The Krampus: Pretty darn obvious considering his whole gimmic...
• Santabomination: Based on the first and original.
• Scare 'Em Straight: This seems to be how he operates, should his charge of the season learn their lesson. After a truly horrifying night, Krampus puts everything back to rights, returns Max’s family, and lets them have their Christmas. But he leaves them with his ornament as a reminder of what happened… and that he’ll be keeping an eye on them going forward…
• Shown Their Work: Surprisingly Krampus does have some ties to his cultural roots. Just like the originals he's some kind of demon and noticeably covered in fur, plays opposite role of Santa Claus punishing the naughty, and does have some rules he has to play by though the specifics are never made clear. If nothing else should his charge learn the lesson he is obliged to release them and revert the damage his reign of terror causes.
• The Voiceless: Krampus never says a single word in the film. Though he does laugh maliciously when rejecting Max's attempted sacrifice.

Der Klown

Der Klown

Played By: Brett Beattie

• Child Eater: He swallows Jordan whole.
• The Dragon: He serves as the main minion to Krampus, and is easily the deadliest.
• Fat Bastard: He's rather plump and jolly once he swallows Jordan.
• Lamprey Mouth: Der Klown possesses a split-open bottom jaw filled with rows of teeth.
• Living Toys: More specifically, a Jack-in-the-Box.
• Monster Clown: His appearance is that of a demonic harlequin-type clown.
• Scary Jack-in-the-Box: Duh.

Perchta the Cherub

Perchta the Cherub

Played By: Ivy George

• Animal Motifs: She is effectively an angel warped into the approximate role of a monster bird.
• Evil Doll: And how!
• Fallen Angel: She's a horrible demonic angel doll.
• Feathered Fiend: Her feathers appear to be molting at times, further adding to her creepiness.
• Living Toys: More specifically, an angel doll.
• Sleepy Head: When the group first meets her, she is seen yawning and stretching from after presumably taking a nap. However, she becomes wide awake when she realizes her victims are right in front of her.
• Voice Changeling: Concept art/deleted scenes reveal it is her who mimics Beth's voice to lure Jordan and Stevie into the attic.

Teddy

Teddy

• Bears Are Bad News: Duh.
• Boom, Headshot!: Dorothy all but decapitates it with one.
• Eye Scream: Linda puts an icicle through one of its eyes. Shortly afterward, it suffers the above fate.
• Living Toys: More specifically, a teddy bear.
• Killer Teddy Bear: Even more obvious.

Clumpy, Lumpy, and Dumpy

Clumpy, Lumpy, and Dumpy

Played By: Justin Roiland, Seth Green and Breehn Burns

• Adorable Evil Minions
• Cute Is Evil: They are a trio of adorable gingerbread men who are giggling, murderous, little psychopaths.
• The Hyena: They are always laughing
• Karma Houdini: Notably averted, as they're the only ones out of the Krampus' minions to get killed off in the siege of the house.
• Laughing Mad: Crazed creatures who are always chuckling.
• Nail 'Em: They attack Howard with a nail gun.