Christmas Special: Evil Dead 2: Revenge of Krampus Review
Dear friends and readers, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, Happy Festivus and everything in between. I may not be jolly old St. Nick, but I still left a special present for all of you under the tree this year. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our special review of Evil Dead 2: Revenge of Krampus.
This past October, we discussed Ash Williams in great detail, so we’ll skip that part of the introduction and instead focus on the other half of this cross-over, Krampus. The Krampus is an old Germanic legend of a horned demon that would visit naughty children at Christmas and punish them, often in horrific and fatal ways. Essentially, Krampus is the Yang to Santa Clause’s Yin. While Santa rewards the good little children, Krampus punishes the wicked. Almost makes a lump of coal sound preferable when you realize that the alternative is being stuffed in a sack and dropped into the underworld by a demonic goat man. Last year, a slasher film based on the legend was released, and while the details of that film are a discussion for another day, I still highly recommend it as I found it to be one of the most unique and exciting horror films in years. How will things play out when the shadow of St. Nicholas takes on Ashley J. Williams? Let’s dive right in and find out.
One thing we learn right away is that the Ash in this story is not the Ash we know and love. Well, he is and he isn’t. This particular Ash was grown from the remains of the original Ash’s severed hand, hence why on the cover Ash has two hands. However, unlike in Army of Darkness, this Ash doesn’t appear to be evil, but still seems to have all the memories of the original Ash, at least up to the point his hand got cut off.
Whatever his origin may be, Ash is doing what any Ash would likely be doing on Christmas Eve and enjoying a quiet evening at home with a six pack of beer, when someone yelling for help begins pounding on his door. Ash is ornery about the disturbance until he realizes that the person behind the door is an attractive young scantily clad tattooed woman. The lady says that someone or something is after her son and Ash, being adept at fighting monsters in any incarnation, reluctantly agrees to help.
Indeed, the creature after the child turns out to be none other than the Krampus himself, trying to punish the young woman’s clearly ill behaved boy. However, when Ash steps in, Krampus’s mood changes. Apparently, Krampus recognizes Ash and doesn’t seem to like him very much. Unsurprisingly, Ash was a bit of a naughty boy in his youth and in fact had many a run-in with Krampus around Christmas time. Ash doesn’t seem to remember, but Krampus sure does and gives Ash a good old fashion Christmas thrashing because of it. Krampus may have the strength advantage, but it’ll take more than brawn to put down Ash Williams who starts fighting back with a pair of heavy gasoline canisters. Frustrated, Krampus kicks Ash into a garbage can. Much to Ash’s surprise however, Krampus helps him out of the garbage and politely apologizes. Krampus then explains that he’s not really about hurting people, his job is only to scare kids straight so they behave themselves in the future. He’s a nice guy and doesn’t enjoy scaring kids, but we all got to make a living and looking the way he does, there aren’t a lot of job opportunities for ol’ Krampus. Ash can’t help but find the whole situation amusing and invites Krampus to his trailer for a few beers. They share memories from when Ash was a kid and the horrible pranks he used to pull until Krampus has to leave to finish his yearly rounds.
Later that night, Ash goes over to the trailer of the pretty young woman from earlier hoping for a Yule tide one night stand, but it seems Krampus has already beaten him to it. Our comic ends with Krampus smugly thanking Ash for a fun night and stealing his beer.
What Works: I’ve always liked the interpretation that Krampus isn’t explicitly evil, but rather, a mostly benevolent guy who just happens to have an unpleasant job. He and Ash work off one another really well and I love the pent up frustration from the big monster.
What Doesn’t: I felt the whole “Grown from another Ash’s hand” thing was completely unnecessary. Maybe it ties into some other Evil Dead comics out there, but for a story like this, it would have been much simpler to just have regular Ash. What’s more, they opted to write Krampus with an eastern European accent, meaning that what he’s saying can be hard to interpret at first.
Overall:
4/5
This was a simple story and a fun one at that. Ash is of course a fun character and always has fun interactions with the people around him, likely why he’s such a popular character to throw into crossovers. Anywho, with that done, I just want to wish each and every one of you who may be reading this a great holiday. I hope it’s filled with love, laughter and joy. Be safe and be good to each other, not just during the holiday season, but all year round.