Krampus

You better watch out because Krampus is here, and you can thank Weta Workshop for summoning him up from the depths of the workshop floor, along with a cavalcade of bloodthirsty Christmas beasties.

This black comedy horror from Legendary Pictures was written and directed by Michael Dougherty and features a cast that includes Adam Scott and Toni Collette. The production was principally filmed in Wellington, at Stone Street Studios. The film showcases visual effects from Weta Digital and practical effects and concept design from Weta Workshop. All three companies are situated just a stone’s throw from each other on the Miramar Peninsula.

Krampus takes its cue from fun and festive 1980s fight fests like Gremlins, with puppetry, animatronics and a cavalcade of other practical effects taking centre stage. The crew at Weta Workshop embraced the task enthusiastically, providing physical effects for makeup, speciality costume, speciality props and creatures. The crew helped to design, refine and handled the complete manufacture of items including Krampus’ ornate 21-foot-long sleigh, festooned with bells, chains and human remains.

The crew also helped to craft and manufacture the horrific array of creatures that terrorise the dysfunctional families throughout the film. Included in this monstrous line-up are dark Christmas elves, gingerbread and snowmen, a teddy bear with beastly fangs, a cherub who is anything but, and a jack in the box with a most unpleasant surprise waiting inside. And most terrifying of them all? Krampus himself. Standing upright on two cloven hooves, this towering interpretation of Saint Nicholas’ shadow was large enough to have a grown man controlling it from the inside, and Weta Workshop’s own technician turned actor, Luke Hawker, was the man for the job.