Written and directed by Estonian filmmaker Rasmus Merivoo, 2020’s Kratt is either a horror film with strong fantasy and comedic elements or it’s a fantasy film with strong horror and comedy elements. Then again, it could very well be a comedy with strong horror and fantasy elements. Honestly, none of those options is a wrong answer when it comes to describing this rather bizarre film that made it’s US debut at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival in Los Angeles in October of 2021. Kratt was released to VOD (in the states) nearly a year later in October of 2022, and has since been released on blu-ray by Dark Star Pictures, one of Vinegar Syndrome’s partner labels.

The film features the misadventures of Mia and Kevin (portrayed by Nora and Harri Merivoo respectively, who I believe are the director’s own children), two young kids dropped off at their grandmother’s farmhouse in a small countryside village while Mom and Dad spend a few days at a New Age “spiritual retreat” (of sorts). Unfortunately for the kids, their parents inadvertently make off with their phones. As children of the modern technological era, being disconnected from the “world” of the internet and social media is almost too much for these kids to bare, especially for 13-year old Mia. Making matters just a little worse for these brats (again, more so Mia) they’re asked to help their Granny Helju (actress Mari Lill) with menial tasks around the property, such as picking up apples, cutting the grass, and shoveling chicken shit to use for fertilizer.

Meanwhile, a group of local Facebook activists, led by “gentle giant” Lembit, are attempting to stop the impending deforestation of an area of woodland that many locals consider to be ancient sacred land. The local magistrate/governor signs a permit to allow the trees to be cut down, but as he’s more focused on both his decreasing popularity with voters, as well as the vacation time that he’s being too distracted from enjoying, he doesn’t really pay much attention to what he’s actually signing. He later visits a small clinic under the pretenses of donating blood, but his real intention is to boost his reputation with voters, which he hopes to accomplish by signing Lembit’s group’s petition to save the forest.

Soon after, Mia and Kevin befriend a pair of local kids, twins who just happen to be Lembit’s son and daughter. While the relationship between the kids is amicable enough, the bulk of the time that they spend together is initially devoted to discussing their respective Instagram accounts and YouTube channels. In the kids’ defense (again, sort of), their parents are just as obsessed with their own phones and social media accounts, even though they do try to convince the children that spending too much time on the internet isn’t beneficial to their development.

As Mia and Kevin prepare for bed one evening, Granny Helju tells them the tale of a creature known as a “kratt”. Built from random household items, the kratt is alleged to not only perform various chores and tasks at its master’s command, but is also purported to bring you gold and other treasures. Intrigued by the concept of untold riches, Mia decides that she must have a kratt of her own. Enlisting the other children, they visit the local library in order to use the building’s computers to search the web for more information on the legend. Instead, they stumble across an old book bearing a pentagram on its cover. The book, which describes the process of summoning a kratt, was owned for centuries by the village’s leaders, but recently was accidentally donated to the library by the absent-minded governor.

The kids set to constructing the kratt out of random items found around the grandmother’s small farm, although this act is really more of a symbolic gesture. What truly brings the creature to life is an offering to the Devil of three drops of human blood in exchange for a soul. However, as none of the kids really want to draw their own blood, they obtain the offering by breaking into the clinic (which, coincidentally, is in the same building as the library) and stealing a bag of blood. I think you can determine who the donor was.

The summoning of the Devil proves to be quite easy. The soul that will finally bring the kratt to life comes from a rather unintended source: Granny, who receives a sickle through her skull when she discovers what the kids have built in her yard and attempts to destroy it. The ritual proves to be a success, and the kratt is brought to life, albeit now inhabiting Granny’s body.

As one might expect, the kids are pretty freaked out by this discovery, even attempting to call for an ambulance at one point. This leads to an amusingly dark scene of paramedics arriving at the farmhouse, only to be offered a snack of a pastry that Granny/Kratt has baked. Little do they know that the salty taste that they’re enjoying is actually the old woman’s blood, which heavily dripped into the dough before baking.

This is soon followed by a flashback sequence, one taking place hundreds of years in the past. It’s here that we learn a little about the history of the kratt. We also learn an important fact about the creature’s nature, one that Granny failed to mention (if she was even aware at all): if not continuously given work to perform, the kratt will snap its master’s neck!

Eventually, the kids regain their composure and begin to put the kratt to work. They start with small tasks, such as ordering the kratt to make them some pancakes. Soon, Mia begins to request more materialistic possessions, such as an inflatable swimming pool and popsicles, both of which are stolen from various sources. However, night soon falls, and the children go to bed, leaving the kratt with no work to perform. As the legend dictates, the kratt does indeed make an effort to kill the children in their sleep, but notices that they aren’t the source of the blood which gave it life, sending it out to look for the original donor.

This leads to a few fairly gruesome deaths… and a rather bizarre instance of a flatulence-powered rocket (again, of sorts). If that last statement sounds a little bizarre, it is. However, the film only gets increasingly more bizarre and outlandish from here, with the kids seeking help from Lembit, a virtual assistant operated by kids living in a meth house, and eventually the local drone-piloting priest. At least one of these approaches brings the kratt to the attention of a high-level government official*, leading to an absolutely bonkers climax.

*Reviewer’s note: I’m not sure exactly which country this official represents, but he is seen speaking in English.

To say that Kratt is a very odd movie might be something more than an understatement. While the tone remains generally lighthearted throughout, even during scenes of death and dismemberment, the film frequently jumps all over the place, occasionally to some seemingly disconnected plot directions. That said, Kratt manages to keep a rather cohesive flow throughout, never burying itself too deeply in plot contrivances that it’s unable to pull itself out.

Honestly, this was a fairly difficult review for me to write as, like previously mentioned, the film tends to be somewhat erratic. However, the experience was one that I found to be overall enjoyable, even if Kratt is not one that I see me rushing back to anytime soon or regularly. There’s undeniably a strong undercurrent of disdain and distrust towards modern technology and, in general, social media throughout. As such, I must admit that there is some irony to be found in the fact that this review is being written for an internet-based movie review site, and that I’ll be sharing the links on various social media outlets.

Overall, Kratt is far from what I would call a “perfect” film (not that such a thing probably exists). While I never found myself bothered by the film’s pacing, I do believe that a few minutes probably could have been cut from the runtime without damaging the product as a whole. This, however, is minor nitpicking as I found the film to be rather unique and its story compelling. Kratt is sure to be quite polarizing, and I can easily see more viewers disliking the film than enjoying it. So, maybe this is a case of “buyer beware”.

Kratt is currently available to watch on VOD platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Tubi, Vudu, Apple TV, and more.