Kratt (2020) - Comedy Horror Film Review

Kratt is an Estonian dark fantasy that despite its sometimes bloody storyline never devolves into pure horror. Written and directed by Rasmus Merivoo and starring the director's relatives, this remained an enjoyable adventure from start to finish.

Mia (Nora Merivoo) and her younger brother Kevin (Harri Merivoo) have been left at the rural home of their Grandma (Mari Lill) while their parents go away on a short holiday. Used to spending their days on their phones, the children are dismayed to discover they no longer have them, and soon come to despair at their situation. One evening the Grandma tells them a story about a local legend called the Kratt. By using a spellbook, someone is able to create this creature who will be compelled to perform any job asked of it. By sheer chance, while at the local library, Mia and Kevin find this book, and with the assistance of two friends they make, they decide to try and create a Kratt, mainly out of boredom. They figure they will ask it to help out their Grandma, though is more likely that they hope it will mean they won't have to do the chores she has set out for them. Surprisingly the spell works, but a series of incidents means that it is the Grandma herself who gets transformed into the Kratt.

At first I thought this may be more high stakes than what it turned out to be. This wasn't actually a bad thing, while there are moments of horror to be found here, the protagonist children never felt like they were in any real peril, a good thing as I found them to be quite likeable. If not for all the gore and moments of violence this would have felt like a kids film. At times I found myself feeling like this was an Estonian version of Stranger Things.
The 'Kratt' part of the film may be the centrepiece, but there is a substantial subplot going on, and this element I almost found to be better than the main film. I'm couldn't decide who the standout actor was here, I'm split between the Governor (played by Ivo Uukkivi who looks like a live-action version of Arataka Reigen from the anime Mob Psycho 100) and Lembit (Paul Perga, who looks like a live-action version of Weird Ed from the video games Maniac Mansion and Day of the Tentacle). I loved these characters, and I loved how surreal this subplot was. The Governor is racked with misery, feeling like he is trapped in his job, while Lembit is a local activist who wishes to preserve a local sacred forest that is in danger of being chopped down. I loved how the main story would occasionally overlap with this subplot without actually pulling it in to it. Lembit is the father of the two friends Mia and Kevin make for instance, while it is the Governor's blood which was used to create the Kratt. My one complaint with this excellent subplot was that it felt like it ended without any real resolution, the fates of two characters never explicitly revealed.

From the short prologue that takes place in 1895 it was clear that there was a danger to summoning a Kratt. Namely that if it isn't given orders then it will turn on its master and strangle them to death. There are moments of horror but they are often played for laughs rather than any intention to be scary. At one point a drunk character tells the Kratt to 'make pizzas' out of two people who were hostile to them, which the Kratt obliges in a short bloody montage. It never felt like that intimidating a character, hardly surprising seeing as it is essentially an old woman, and which doesn't have much chance to be able to think for itself. As soon as the Kratt lit its own wind in order to fly off into the sky I knew that the real peril in the film wouldn't be too high. Thankfully everything ends up fine and right by the finish, aside from the unresolved subplot and a couple of violent deaths. There seems to be metaphor throughout of what it is to work. The Kratt is a being that exists only to work, while the Governor is a character who feels imprisoned by his responsibilities, and the children's father is said to have recently quit his job as he didn't want to 'be a Kratt' anymore.

Throughout this had the feel of a modern day fairytale, and one which didn't teach a lesson of morality with the protagonists not really learning too much from their mistakes. It is made up by some good special effects, there was never anything spectacular, but the effects that were used were good, as was the makeup and mostly the costume design (outside of a silly wig that is constantly being used on various characters, but that does play into the strange humour the film is going for. All in all I found this to be entertaining, while the subtitles made complete sense throughout. Kratt releases on October 11th on VOD across North America from Red Water Entertainment.

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