Krampus Features A Brilliant Voice Cameo You May Have Missed

Out of all the holiday-themed horror movies that have piled up under the proverbial tree over the decades, there's a strong case to be made that Michael Dougherty's "Krampus" stands as the truest to the Christmas spirit. Released in 2015, the film has dug a cozy little niche for itself as an annual tradition for those looking for something a bit more twisted in their yuletide cheer. 

Although the title monster does rear his horned head, Krampus — like Santa Claus — depends on his helpers to carry out his night's work. In this case, that means a horde of evil elves, a posse of demonic toys, and a trio of killer gingerbread men, the last of which emit tiny grunts of sadistic glee, voiced by some very fitting guest stars.

"Krampus" is ostensibly a horror-comedy, but it's one of the rare modern films in that subgenre in which the laughs don't drown out the screams. Dougherty created a legitimately frightening horror film featuring a descent into chaos that's much more in line with something like "Evil Dead II" than any sort of parody horror. Besides this, it's also a genuine Christmas movie, complete with valuable lessons about the holiday spirit and a theme of a family learning how to spend time together despite their mutual annoyances. It's this sickly concoction of nasty and sweet that makes "Krampus" a successful holiday horror film, and why its gingerbread men — lovingly labeled as Lumpy, Clumpy, and Dumpy in the credits — fit snugly into the tone.

Although the fiendish gingerbread trio don't talk, they do have actors to voice their menacing squeals. Seth Green, whose resume includes a hefty dose of voice acting, is behind Lumpy, while Justin Roiland of "Rick and Morty" fame gives Clumpy his grunts. Breehn Burns, who developed and performed voice work for Pendleton Ward's animated web series "Bravest Warriors," is the final piece of the puzzle as Dumpy. All of these personalities have worked in the world of offbeat animation, and it's not too difficult to see how the gingerbread men of "Krampus" could fit in perfectly on "Rick and Morty" or Green's stop-motion show, "Robot Chicken."

The gingerbread men were also one of the few fully digital effects in the film, though Michael Dougherty specifically wanted them to look stop-motion. Green's work on "Robot Chicken" makes him well-suited to voice characters in that sort of visual style, as does his penchant for quietly cameoing in high-profile geek material. He's voiced Howard the Duck, for example, every time the character pops up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and he's behind Cad Bane's bounty-hunting droid sidekick Todo 360 in Dave Filoni's animated "Star Wars" shows, "The Clone Wars" and "The Bad Batch." He also took over the role of Leonardo for the third season of 2012's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" series and has provided seemingly hundreds of pop culture impressions on "Robot Chicken." Last but not least, in arguably his most well-known role, he is behind Chris Griffin on "Family Guy." In other words, he's just the type of guy to be down for lending his vocal cords to some violent, faux stop-motion gingerbread cookies, and the world is better for it.