Having discovered that the "real" Santa Claus was a half-man monster who punished naughty children before being frozen in ice, a young boy living in icebound Finland comes to suspect that Santa has been dug up and unfrozen when his father's reindeer herd are slaughtered in this decidedly offbeat Christmas movie. The film gets off to a strong start with some truly horrific drawings of what Santa apparently actually looks like and the reindeer slaughter is certainly quite eerie. The film spends too long though building up suspense and tension with the suggestion that Santa is on the very verge of going on a rampage; it is an over hour in before any real action as such begins... and the overall film is less than an hour and a half long! The payoff is not even as frightening or thrilling as it is built up to be (we never see Santa actually punishing naughty children) with the film eventually coming off as a fairly prototypical monster movie, Christmas twist aside. It is hard not to admire the film's willingness to challenge conventional notions of Santa Claus and Christmas, but at the same time, the potential for more is striking. The mythology only ever seems half-developed without the right dose of exposition, and it is no surprise to learn that the film was spun off from two short films by the same director that, apparently, explain things in more detail. The film at least ends on a strong note with a memorable suggestion of where one traditional Christmas staple comes from, and the overall film is daringly different no doubt - but not for all tastes.
Review of Rare Exports
