Director: Louisa Warren
Year: 2019
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: Vikings vs. Krampus
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
Trying to overtake their enemies, a Viking raid on their castle sends several surviving members of the woods where they’re either captured or killed for their amusement, but when a chance for redemption is offered a legendary creature sends it out to take out the invaders one by one.
Review:
Overall, this was a fun if somewhat problematic effort. One of the better aspects to be had with this one comes from the rather solid and somewhat enjoyable setup to the eventual rampage of the creature. The initial setup of the raid on the castle and sending the occupants scurrying into the wilderness in a quest for power and control that brings the two sides against each other in gruesome combat offers a fine starting point to get the Viking clan out as the villains of the piece. Featuring the further work done to bring about the need for revenge on their attackers by the use of black magic rituals to summon the creature to act as a vessel to do so, there’s a noteworthy starting point to be had here with the central storyline.
As well, the resulting sequences offer the revenge rampage of the creature taking out the ruthless Vikings in the castle. The ceremony that brings it to life is a fine enough occult ritual, bringing together a gruesome enough series of actions with some fine storyline connotations to make it make sense, which is nicely augmented by the scenes that inspire it as the sword-play confrontations that bring about some decent gore here. The second half involving the creature stalking the remaining Vikings in the castle and surrounding countryside features a lot of great encounters where it takes out the family and chases them into the woods where the encounters are a bit more vicious and violent. As this usually features a lot of solid work here with the creature which contains a solid enough look and design which is featured throughout here, these all manage to give this a lot to like about it.
There are some drawbacks to the film that hold it down. The main issue here is the seemingly innate ability to effectively tell this kind of story on this kind of budget as the elaborate story is hampered by its low-strung origins. Featuring an intricate story of a series of Viking raids on the castle of an English lord only to find the area so understaffed they overrun it with ease and take them hostage, that the sides here are represented by figures in the single-digits and the castle they place it in manages to be a single wall that looks like a castle from the outside but is just so effectively neutered by the budget it’s hard to take seriously at times. That extends to the flimsy effects where it hardly features any on-screen blood or gore and has only implications more than anything happening on-screen so it falls short in that regard. With this one also not making any sense as to why the particular creature was selected since it never plays into the folklore in any way, these all manage to drag it down.
Overview: ***/5
A rather fun if obviously low-budget adaptation, this one gets enough positives to overcome its issues even if they still become quite obvious and hold it back the most. Those who enjoy this particular style, are curious about it, or are fans of the creative crew will want to give it a shot while most others out there should heed caution.
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