Kevin Smith to unleash 'The Krampus!'
Posted Friday, January 24, 2014 at 2:37 PM Central
Last updated Friday, January 24, 2014 at 2:37 PM Central
by John Couture
I know that it's been a few months since we checked in with friend of the site Kevin Smith, but this news was too compelling not to share. According to Kevin's blog Silent Bob Speaks, the filmmaker has completed his second screenplay based on one of his podcasts.
Comes the Krampus! is based on episode 20 of the Edumacation podcast "Big Man on Krampus" in which the hosts recount the folklore of the beast known as the Krampus. For the uninitiated, Krampus is the Yin to Santa Claus' Yang and punishes children who misbehaves, even going so far as taking them back to his lair in a burlap sack.
Comes the Krampus! will be a horror anthology ala Creepshow that weaves four tales around a "freaky framing device." What's more is that each of those four tales (and framing device) will be directed by a different View Askew family member. Kev will ride the director's chair for "Mask Maker" while his hetero lifemate Jason Mewes will direct the "Hitler’s Krampus" episode. Kevin's Edumacation co-host Andy McElfresh, who also co-wrote the script with Smith, will direct "The Krampus vs. The 3rd Grade." Carol Banker, script supervisor for several of Smith's movies, will direct "The Proposal" while Kevin's wife Jennifer Schwalbach will direct "The Bad Babysitter," the aforementioned freaky framing device.
Comes the Krampus! will be the second film to be based upon one of Kevin's podcasts after this year's Tusk, which is Smith's first foray into true horror. For a hot minute, Kevin was working on adapting the SModcast podcast "The (C)Rapture" into a film, but the latest update is that he is going to turn it into a Broadway musical.
The plan is to shoot Comes the Krampus! after Clerks III which the director revealed he is hoping to begin shooting on April 7. In further Clerks III news Rosario Dawson confirmed to Den of Geek! that she will be returning for the third installment of the film that put Kevin Smith on the map.
Smith didn't reveal when the film would be released, but given the subject matter and the potential that the director might already have two films (Tusk, Clerks III) released later this year, I believe that Comes the Krampus! will most likely be released in the fourth quarter of 2015. The question then is it more a true horror film that would benefit from a Halloween release or the next Christmas classic that will play off of the Krampus' relationship to Santa Claus.