Christmas means something different for everyone. For some it’s about decorating the Christmas tree, baking gingerbread cookies and putting an extra log on the fire.
For others it means quaffing a mug of beer, and meeting the devil-dude Krampus, a mythical character popular in central and northern European folklore.
Rooted in pagan rituals, Krampus is a furry half-man, half-goat demon saddled with curving horns, fang-like teeth, a long tongue, and fire and brimstone eyes.
Unlike Santa, he spends the holiday season looking for boys and girls who’ve been naughty and he’s out to make them pay.
Forget the lump of coal at the bottom of a stocking. This brute straight-up loads mischief-makers into a bag and hauls them off to his lair, possibly to be eaten.
CanScare, a homegrown Edmonton business company, has adapted Krampus folklore into a funhouse scare, a hybrid of theatrical storytelling and escape room puzzles.
The Krampus funhouse is the brainchild of creative director Brendan Boyd, the same animatronics and puppetry wizard who operated Odd-Lot Puppetry.
Located in St. Albert, the now defunct company created story theatre for children and built hand-manipulated puppets and robotic animatronics.
“We retired Odd-Lot in 2016. We wanted to move on. We have a dark sense of humour and it didn’t mesh with what we were asked to do for children,” said Boyd.
The “we” he speaks about is his team: business partner Gennieve Edwards, funhouse carpenter Stephen Boyd and illustrator designer Alana Banks.
Inspiration bloomed after seeing a flash mob of about 30 menacing Krampuses dive bomb Whyte Avenue in December 2017.
“It was a spooky parade meant to remind children to be good. We saw it and started talking to them,” Boyd explained.
The original escape room concept highlighted North American-style monsters common in ‘80s horror movies spliced into the classic Krampus tale. In this case, Krampus is a hungry, 12-foot demon.
“You don’t really see it (Krampus) until the end, and then it’s a big scare.”
Anyone who dares to enter the 2,000-sq.-ft. escape room faces a world similar to a frozen-over ghost house located somewhere between limbo and hell.
To move forward, visitors must solve puzzles. While they do so, smoke, mould, burned trees and a Krampus sack, a portal leading to hell, taunt visitors with challenges.
One puzzle is a warped kitchen in a twisted gingerbread house while another is the inside of a snow globe where a deviant Frosty has lost his face and a new one must be found.
“What’s unique about our escape room is that all our puzzles have two ways to solve them. The nice way is harder. The naughty way is easier. But every action determines your outcome.”
From designing the funhouse and writing the script to building the animatronics and splattering blood on walls, Boyd has done it all.
“Everyone focuses on the fact we do horror, but the whole point of Krampus is to teach good morals,” he noted.
“There’s a lot of humour in it. The whole message is about holding on to Christmas traditions, being a good person and helping others. It’s disguised under a spooky theme, but it really just expands on European traditions.”
Krampus runs Nov. 17 to 24 and Dec. 4 to 20 at the ATB Financial Arts Barns, 10330 – 84 Ave. Tickets are $25 at www.canscare.com.
