A Christmas Tale - Rare Exports

I know Christmas is supposed to be a time of happiness and cheer in which jolly old Santa Claus bestows gifts upon the children. Well, not in Finland. Their Santa Claus legend is a lot darker and scarier per "Rare Exports." Their Santa Claus eats naughty children and he's about to make a reappearance.

A mining company was in Russia at the Korvatunturi drill site looking for a precious commodity. What they found was Santa Claus encased in ice and buried under tons of rock. After digging him up the reindeer lay disemboweled and children came up missing. Only a young boy named Pietari (Onni Tommila) knew what was happening. If the adults were to ever know what was going on, they would have to listen to Pietari.

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This might be a Christmas story, but note this will give kids nightmares. This Christmas tale is not about a happy child-loving Santa bearing gifts. Oh, no, quite the opposite!

At a drill sit in the mountains, sawdust is found at a depth of 1300 feet. As it turns out, sawdust was used years ago to keep things refrigerated. Story goes, years ago, the Sami people drove Santa onto a frozen lake, and when he fell in and froze, they hauled him out and buried him under rocks, thus creating a mountain. This Santa was a truly evil being.

When local reindeer hunters find hundreds of reindeer killed and left to rot, they blame the researchers and decide to pay them a visit to demand compensation. However, arriving at the site, they find it abandoned - and they discover a huge excavation site.

Young Pietari Kontio believes the pit to be where Santa is buried. Convinced Santa is evil, he fears Santa will come for all the children in town. When his Dad, Rauno (Jorma Tommila) finds a man in a wolf trap and believes him to be dead, Rauno and his friend, Piiparinen, take the man to his slaughterhouse where they decide how to get rid of the body. But they are horrified when the man suddenly comes to and doesn't act human. And this is only just the start of their hellish nightmare.

This film truly is creepy. The old man they found in the pit is a pure evil looking creature. In fact, I found him to be the film's highlight, as I never really knew what to expect from him. The make-up effects and visuals are fantastic, and the performances believable. The foreboding atmosphere significantly intensifies the moment the old man arrives, and had me on the edge of my seat.

Cleverly, this horror film relies entirely on suspense, and not blood and gore. At times the suspense gets under your skin, and I enjoy horror films that are able to accomplish this so effectively. If you're in the mood for a different kind of Christmas story around the Festive Season, then this is the perfect choice. I absolutely loved it and no doubt will be watching it every year around Christmas time. This was well worth the watch!

'Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)' is weird. Not weird in the quirky sense, just weird. It has a bizarre plot but it takes itself almost entirely seriously, it's increasingly outlandish but it it's never playful, it's dark and gritty but it's never tense or scary... it's difficult to describe, really. It isn't quite a comedy, despite being absurd; it isn't quite a horror, despite being grim. It sits in an odd sort of limbo between genres. Who is its intended audience? I'm not sure that even it knows. I can't see it being a cult classic because it isn't 'bad' enough, but I can't see being a critical darling because it isn't 'good' enough. It has a decent atmosphere and it's fairly compelling, but it doesn't seem to move past its initial stages and a huge chunk of its plot is portrayed as a montage just before its end credits. Like I said, it's weird. It's a fairly decent effort, though, and I don't think anyone can claim that it's generic. 6/10

I love Christmas. However, I also hate how television stations here in the US drive us crazy by playing the same old Christmas movies year after year after year--until you start to hate them. Movies like "It's a Wonderful Life" (which they used to air 37923573 times a year until recently) have been ruined because of this. So, in the spirit of being sick and tired of the same old re-runs, I might suggest if you feel the same way you try "Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale". It sure is NOT "It's a Wonderful Life" and it's nothing like "Miracle on 34th Street"! It's actually sort of an anti-Christmas movie.

The film begins in the Finnish wilderness. Some Americans are excavating SOMETHING...but what, we aren't sure. Suddenly the scene changes to three men who are trying to figure out what attacked. Hundreds of caribou are dead and they are heavily armed just in case it attacks. Even one of the guy's little boy is armed with a shotgun. I guess life can be hard that close to the Arctic Circle. As the film progresses, the film becomes more and more and more tense, as apparently the thing or things that killed the animals also wiped out the folks excavating the frozen tundra...apparently someone or something is really, really mad! I would love to say more about this sick and rather inappropriate film, but I don't want to spoil the film. Suffice to say that 'Santa' is not their only worry--his crazed, naked helpers are. And you better pray you haven't been naughty!!

Overall, I liked this sick film as it is highly creative. It also had an amazing sense of suspense. Using exceptional direction and great background music, the film was tense beyond belief. However, the story is not perfect. The part where the kid suddenly knew EXACTLY what to do and the adults followed his lead was bad--and a film cliché I hate. Fortunately, what followed in the final scene after they listened to the kid was great--and the ending made me laugh. One final note: there is LOTS and LOTS of male nudity--very, very graphic nudity. I wasn't offended by it as it was not the least bit sexual in nature. And, since parents SHOULD not let their kids see this because of the subject matter, then kids seeing all this naked flesh really isn't a serious concern. Worth seeing...but it is one sick and twisted holiday film. I just hope I don't start seeing it 37923573 every year on the television...though I doubt it.

By the way, the idea for this full-length film originated from two short films by the same filmmaker. I saw the first one years ago and loved it--and fortunately both shorts are included on the disc as special features. Don't forget to watch them.

I really enjoyed this movie, harkening back to 80s classics like Tremors or gremlins where a small-town community must deal with a large threat that terrorizes their way of life. While Christmas horror films have been done before, such as silent night deadly night or Black Christmas, this movie puts its own spin on the genre and helps capture a tone and comedy that is unique to this Finnish production.

'What if Father Christmas was evil?' That's the general premise of the film that drives the narrative and I appreciate that the film took itself seriously, it didn't divulge into making the entire premise a joke like an asylum film would, and it's better for it!

The acting was spot on especially from the child actor (Onni Tommila) and the dad (Jorma Tommila). Story and atmosphere are fantastic in the first two acts. The mystery that builds up is slow and gripping as you begin to thaw into its icy interior. The cinematography excels at showing the unique location of the Icey, harsh and ragged landscape of the Korvatunturi mountains in rural Finland, adding a great deal to the film's atmosphere.

However, It drags in the middle with a long time dedicated Inside a slaughterhouse, this part really kills it's pacing and stops the plot in its tracks. Then there's the third act... it's bad. If you look at other reviews online, the same complaints keep cropping up; Terrible CGI, plot convenience, and the comedy & atmosphere that made the first two acts so great disappear from the film.

I was still very positive on the film and would recommend especially if you're sick of the same old Christmas movies and want something new and unique this holiday season.