octoberrust67 Good move no pay off . No Santa Claus or epic encounter . Could have been better . End the end plain silly

JLRVancouver "Rare Exports" is a clever, fun, Christmas themed horror-film from Finland. The cryptic title and incongruous ending refer to the short "Rare Exports, Inc." from which this feature-length film was spun-off (worth watching in its own right). Briefly, people are once again digging where they shouldn't be digging and a wrathful Christmas spirit is awakened. Pietari (Onni Tommila) is the 'little child that leads', as he tries to tell his friends and father what dwells beneath the mountain. At times comic, at other times grim, the clever story unfolds as mysterious events in the remote Lapp town begin to coalesce the night before Christmas, and there is a great 'twist' leading up to the climatic confrontation with the evil that is Santa Claus. Note: content warnings may refer 'full-frontal male nudity', which is present but completely non-erotic.

sol- 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.

A_Different_Drummer Some films, even really good films, are like a broken-in pair of jeans, comfy and familiar. In fact, according to psychologists it is the repetitive themes in our favourite films that generate the voltage in our brains which in turn produce the serotonin that makes us enjoy the film experience. OK, you got me, I apologize for the science lesson. But that is the only way I can explain this film which comes literally out of nowhere (Scandanavia?) and begins with the makings of a typical X-mas movie, but before you know it, you are watching a bunch of pleasant everyday people treat old Santa like he just escaped from a Freddy or Jason set. And best of all the movie is slick. Before you even have a chance to start doubting the messages that your eyes are sending to your brain, the director whisks you off into this fantasy and, in spite of the lack of familiarity (see above treatise), the synapses start to spark and the movie becomes good clean fun. And totally unforgettable. (FACTOID: the image of fat Santa in the red suit has no basis in anything. He was drawn that way for a series of Coke ads at the turn of the 20th century, and, heaven protect us from ourselves, that image became iconic and mythic. Personally I prefer the Finnish version.)