With Cannes just around the corner, we’re already starting to see announcements about films that will be headed to the Festival’s market. Among those competing for buyer interest will be a new Kevin Smith offering, Christmas creature feature **Anti-Claus{
Smith, despite indicating a couple of years ago that he’d throttle back on filmmaking to focus on Podcasting, seems happy keeping both empires ticking along, as he already has based-on-reality (sort of) thriller Tusk headed to cinemas this year. He’s reuniting his Tusk cast – Justin Long, Haley Joel Osment, Genesis Rodriguez and Michael Parks – for the new film, which is based on the legend of the Krampus, the creature said by some cultures to eat naughty kids.
“When I was a kid, if they wanted to make a Christmas horror movie, they’d stick an axe in Santa’s hands,” Smith tells The Hollywood Reporter. “In Anti-Claus, we leave Santa alone and creep with the Krampus through twisted tales of holly-jolly murder, desire, desperation and despair. Just in time for the holiday season.
“In America, we’re taught that nice kids gets presents from Santa and naughty kids get coal. But in countries like Germany, Austria, Bavaria, Romania and Hungary, Christmas is more metal than merry: Saint Nicholas brings a sack full of toys for good kids and the Krampus carries an empty bag for taking away the bad kids. I wanna see THAT Christmas movie. So rather than wait for it, we’ll make it instead.”
He’s kicking off filming in September under his Smodcast Pictures label with Tusk team XYZ Films pimping the new project to buyers at Cannes. Presumably, therefore, we're looking at Christmas 2015 for Anti-Claus, and fans of the Krampus will have to watch either the Supernatural Christmas episode or Rare Exports in the meantime. As for the walrus horror, that should hit the US this fall, with Sony handling it in the UK.