Director – James Klass, Screenplay – Scott Jeffrey, Producer – Tara MacGowran, Photography – Edward Lui, Music – Adam King. Production Company – Proportion Productions/Brief Yellow Light Productions.
Cast
Claire-Maria Fox (Vanessa Bradley), Tony Manders (Alfie Bradley), Faye Goodwin (Amy Bradley), Tara MacGowran (Frau Pertcha/Molly Fletcher), Michelle Archer (Leslie), Oliver Ebsworth (Callum), Tom Bowen (Wildon), Dottie James (Debbie), Sian Crisp (Matha), Amy Burrows (Miss Kitchen), Tim West (Joe), Oliver Lee (Kevin), Penelope Read (Heidi)
Plot
Vanessa Bradley and her young daughter Amy return home to her father Alfie in the town of Belgrave just on Christmas. Vanessa is upset because her partner Wildon has left her for another woman. Alfie is then visited by Leslie but makes a point of keeping her away from Vanessa, which raises Vanessa’s suspicions. Leslie calls a meeting at the town church to warn everybody that something has returned and is claiming children again. Twelve years earlier, the locals believed that Molly Fletcher had sacrificed twelve of the children and dragged her into the woods and hung her. She died placing a curse on the town and calling on the folklore spirit of Frau Pertcha. The figure of a hooded woman now appears claiming children and killing townspeople.
Mother Krampus/The 12 Deaths of Christmas is one of the films from the incredibly prolific British producer and sometimes director Scott Chambers who is mostly known as Scott Jeffrey, among assorted other pseudonyms. Jeffrey’s most famous film to date has been Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023), followed by a host of other horror version of children’s and fairytale characters, among other B horror and SF films. Jeffrey and associates later returned to the Christmas horror film with Demonic Christmas Tree (2022) and Return of Krampus (2022), which is unrelated to this. Director James Klass had previously directed and written House on Elm Lake (2017) for Jeffrey.
The film was called The 12 Deaths of Christmas in UK release but was retitled Mother Krampus for US release, where it proved modestly successful. even though no Krampus figure appears in the film. In fact, what we have is more of a witch’s retribution film a la Black Sunday (1960) and a host of other copycats of that. Frau Pertcha is a figure from Germanic folklore who is said to haunt homes around Christmas and leave gifts or punishments depending on whether children had been good or naughty, although is not known as a killer of children. The film even creates a legend about saying the name of Frau Pertcha in front of a mirror five times, appropriated from Candyman (1992) – and then tosses off a joke about ow it reminds of Candyman.
James Klass does deliver some occasionally quite nasty images – that of a girl having her lips sewn shut; where another victim has quite what looks like a cookie cutter pushed into their skin and a chunk of flesh gouged out; and Dottie James trussed up in the kitchen like a turkey and some of her flesh cut out to be placed in the oven to be cooked.
Frau Pertcha (Tara MacGowran) seeks a child victim
The film comes with okay-ish twist at the end about what is going on. [PLOT SPOILERS] However, it also makes much of the film into misdirection. We not only have mention of the figure Frau Pertcha, but also the local woman who was hung in the woods. Your initial impression is that the murdered woman has invoked Frau Pertcha who has come to claim children and others in vengeance. However, when the real killer is revealed to be a mundane individual, this throws things off. This suddenly turns the murdered woman into a sympathetic figure. It is not clear if she is the hooded figure who is going around killing people or not. It also means that Frau Pertcha, who much is made of at the outset, has nothing at all to do with anything that follows.
There was a sequel-in-name-only with the Lady Krampus (2018), a US film made without the involvement of Scott Jeffrey and associates, which was sold under the title Mother Krampus 2: Slay Ride, despite also featuring no Krampus.