Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010) - In this fantasy horror film we open with an American and British team of excavators drilling in Finland in search of something ancient. Meanwhile the company's drilling has killed the local Reindeer and the Reindeer farmers seek to find out answers.
This is a quick and straight to the point film. It gets right into from the beginning and doesn't hide anything from the audience. The opening of this film lays it all out as to what the researchers are looking for, if not scantily implied. It's a Christmas movie after all, it's very easy to get what they're putting down.
Our main characters, a father and son duo, Rauno and Pietari live a simple life raising Reindeer in the mountains. Rauno struggles with being a single father to his son and providing a life for him that his wife would have wanted. As the son, Pietari, fearful of what he believes to be Ol' Saint Nick watching him, lays the traps in hopes of capturing Santa, depicted to him as a child torturer. Pietari and Rauno soon find their wolf trap has captured something. A skinny old man with a long white beard. Soon Rauno recruits his friends after learning the town's potato sacks, blow dryers and space heaters have all gone missing along with their children.
Well, you can kinda see where this film is headed. The group of hunters and Pietari, having now captured the old man, come to the conclusion that it might have something to do with the company's nefarious research in the mountains and that what they have might be of some value to the researchers.
I'll stop right there because the movie moves quick. Based after two short films by writer/director Jalmari Helander, quickly became viral hits on Youtube and thus sparked Jalmari to make a feature length film. The result is a very tight and fast paced movie that doesn't keep you guessing, but serves you every suspicion you have on a plate of cookies.
What I love about Rare Exports is it has this child like wonder while still adding some grown up comedy and horror. You get this mixture of John Carpenter's The Thing and The Santa Claus that just works so well as we dive deeper into Kris Kringle's mythology. It's such a delightful black comedy that you'd almost wish a Tales From the Crypt title card would ooze down the screen and you were watching a holiday themed spin off film. It fits so well among the show and films horrific and twisted humor.
If you want to find a new classic this year to enjoy with the young adults in your family, I can't recommend this film enough. As the film nears its end, it all comes together making for a hilarious take on the Santa Claus origin story.