KRAMPUS (2015)

Kind of like National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation meets A Nightmare on Elm Street, Krampus starts out a comedy about a rowdy dysfunctional family getting together for Christmas, middle-class family set upon by their blue collar relatives ... until young son Max (Emjay Anthony), frustrated with the loopy proceedings, unknowingly summons a demon - the anti-Santa Claus - whose arrival turns Max's neighborhood into a desolate blizzard wasteland, and every member of his family into targets in need of being taught a lesson.  Krampus works as both a funny comedy and a satisfyingly creepy horror film; only occasionally do the two not mesh well, for me most notably in an ending I felt could have been stronger.  But in the narrow field of Christmas horror films, this one works well on both levels - without the bucketloads of blood and gore found in so many others of its genre, and with a lot more laughs. (rated PG-13)  B