Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale poster & wallpaper
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Onni Tommita, Jorma Tommila, Per Christian Ellefsen, Tommi Korpela, Rauno Juvonen ... see more see more... , Ilmari Järvenpää , Peeter Jakobi , Jonathan Hutchings , Risto Salmi , Ville Virtanen , Jonthan Hutchings

It's the eve of Christmas in northern Finland, and an 'archeological' dig has just unearthed the real Santa Claus. But this particular Santa isn't the one you want coming to town. When the local child... read more read more...ren begin mysteriously disappearing, young Pietari and his father Rauno, a reindeer hunter by trade, capture the mythological being and attempt to sell Santa to the misguided leader of the multinational corporation sponsoring the dig. Santa's elves, however, will stop at nothing to free their fearless leader from captivity. What ensues is a wildly humorous nightmare - a fantastically bizarre polemic on modern day morality. RARE EXPORTS: A CHRISTMAS TALE is a re-imagining of the most classic of all childhood fantasies, and is a darkly comic gem soon to be required perennial holiday viewing. -- (C) Oscilloscope

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71% liked it

10,603 ratings

Critics

90% liked it

80 critics

R, 1 hr. 20 min.

Directed by: Jalmari Helander

Release Date: December 3, 2010

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DVD Release Date: October 25, 2011

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Flixster Reviews (857)

  • itsjustme2004
    May 27, 2012
    itsjustme2004
    Interesting movie. Rather strange, if you ask me. I'm not sure I get why so many people seemed to love it. This was an unanimated Tim Burton kind of Christmas movie. My biggest disappointment with the film is what we don't get to see. I didn't understand why we got to see a bunch... read more of less than adorable naked elderly elves, but we couldn't get a single shot of Santa? It was also confusing that the first hour of the story is for older kids or adults, and then once the young boy starts calling the shots, it's reverses back to a kid's film. Not much magical, or mystical, about this particular fairytale. Dark, but weird...
  • LWOODS04
    April 17, 2012
    LWOODS04
    Cast: Per Christian Ellefsen, Peeter Jakobi, Tommi Korpela, Jorma Tommila, Jonathan Hutchings, Onni Tommila, Risto Salmi, Rauno Juvonen, Ilmari Järvenpää

    Director: Jalmari Helander

    Summary: In the frozen beauty of Finland, local reindeer herders race against the clock to captu... read morere an ancient evil: Santa Claus. A single dad and his son are caught up in the chaos as scientists dig for artifacts. What they find endangers the entire village.

    My Thoughts: "I really liked the concept of this movie. I thought it was a brilliant idea... Lets make Santa a child murdering freak of nature and have old naked men as the elves. Crazy right?! I wouldn't call the movie scary, even if I think kids would freak out, but considering the elves (as I mentioned above, they are old naked men), I'm pretty sure no parent is going to allow their young ones to watch this.. Well unless they are a bit twisted. It's a rare dark Christmas treat. Someone previously wrote that it felt like an 80's film, and I couldn't agree more. Which is probably why I enjoyed it so much. Hope more see it. Enjoy!"
  • kenstachnik
    February 3, 2012
    kenstachnik
    A fun alternative to the regular Christmas faire, The best way to describe Rare Exports is The Thing, as directed by Steven Speilberg, on a low budget, set in Norway, with Santa as the titular character.
    And it's kind of awesome...until it kind of endorses slavery at the end (or ... read moreat least "human" trafficking.
  • blkbomb
    January 12, 2012
    blkbomb
    "This Christmas Everyone Will Believe In Santa Clause."

    I have been waiting for over a year to finally get a chance to watch Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale. I hyped it so much in my own head and still it did not disappoint. You just can't beat the premise of the film. It is so b... read morerilliant and so... refreshing. This is a great Christmas film to watch when you are sick of watching all the heartwarming, kid friendly holiday movies. This one has a great, sinister back story to Santa Clause. It is extremely humorous and occasionally exciting. It wasn't quite the film I thought it would be. I did have an initial feeling that this was going to more of a horror film, but they didn't go that route and that is fine with me. 

    This film centers around an archeological dig up of the original Santa Clause. This Santa Clause isn't the nice guy that everyone is familiar with though. He does bring nice kids presents and his elves are less than small. What he does is destroy naughty kids. All the kids in a village go missing on Christmas and a young child, his father and a few other locals are forced to act. This may not seem like all that brilliant of an idea, but if you watch it, your mind will definitely be changed. 

    I think my favorite part of the experience was how the writer-director bypassed what everyone expected and went for a much more comical approach. It isn't to the point of laugh out loud comedy, but there's subtle things that would make me laugh occasionally. 

    Could it have been better? I think so. Even with how much I love it, I don't think it capitalized on the amazing premise to the fullest extent. Also I would have loved for it to be slightly longer. The final showdown doesn't feel as epic as it should. I would have loved to have seen a little bit more from the elves too. But all in all, this is one hell of a twisted holiday film, that you should watch to mix it up.
  • bbcfloridabound
    January 9, 2012
    bbcfloridabound
    This is the most bizarre Christmas Movie to come along in some time, not a sit down and watch family movie, defiantly not something that would come across the hallmark channel. A Finnish film about Santa Claus who has horns like the devil and comes for good little boys and captur... read morees them with his evil elf helpers, pretty sick and high in the wacko scale but only a 4 star in overall enjoyment on my part.
  • LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    January 1, 2012
    LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    "This holiday season, the real Santa Claus is coming to town."

    In the depths of the Korvatunturi mountains, 486 metres deep, lies the closest ever guarded secret of Christmas. The time has come to dig it up! This Christmas everyone will believe in Santa Claus.

    <
    ... read morefont size=+2 face="Century Schoolbook">REVIEW
    In the far north and remote parts of Finland, a mining company searches for a forgotten secret, buried, hidden and frozen in one of the mountains (Sidetrack: Why is it always somebody that feels the urge to dig up what a lot of people obviously have put a lot of effort to bury? They didn't do it just for fun, did they?). Pietari, a local boy, has snuck into the compound and overhears the chief start the final preparations. Pietari understands what they are digging for, Santa Claus. Reading the original tales Pietari discovers that the real Santa isn't at all as it is told nowadays. The real Santa is a monster. And suddenly strange things happen in the village. No one, especially the children, are safe.

    Sometimes Rare Exports suffer from what I personally call Annoying Kid Syndrome. Pietari, even though he is the protagonist, do get a little annoying sometimes. He clearly suspects something, he acts upon it, regularly disobeying his father, but doesn't tell anybody. Even when the strange things start to happen, confirming his suspicions. But other movies have suffered worse than Rare Exports from this, and it corrects itself as the movie goes along. For the most part, Rare Exports is best described as a horror/thriller-comedy. There are no real jokes, the characters are dead serious about what they do, but the plot is driven so far, so outrageous, it is a lot of fun. And it wouldn't have worked if the characters hadn't taken it seriously. Not at all. Rare Exports is both fun and thrilling with a bit suspense. Very entertaining. A good export from Finland.
  • CloudStrife84
    December 27, 2011
    CloudStrife84
    Rare is definitely the word here. Because how often do we see a Christmas movie where Santa is pure evil and the kids are armed with rifles? Well, there's Bad Santa, but it was no way near as dark as this film. Hence, a word of warning to all the parents out there: Unless ... read moreyou want your kids to think of Santa as a naked and sadistic hobo, you may want to keep them at a safe distance from this movie. For us who have long since stopped believing in him, however, it's a fresh, exciting and well-executed piece of Finnish fantasy-horror. A bit like The Thing, but with a very different kind of creepy monster.
  • kiriyamakazou
    December 12, 2011
    kiriyamakazou
    Rare Exports isn't the sinister horror the trailers promised. But it is an incredible Christmas/Family film. What I love is that it really captures the childlike essence of 80's films such as Gremlins, Goonies and ET. We have a young protagonist that is terrified of Santa. He dis... read morecovers that the real Santa only punishes naughty children in very horrific ways. Of course, once the deer start getting killed, and footprints appear in the snow, no one believes him. It isn't long before the adults catch up to his way of thinking. The film builds a lot of tension at first. It never really shows us anything but hints heavily at what to expect. The end sees a dramatic action heavy finale, which surprisingly works. The beautiful darkness of Finland mixed with the snowfalls makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Rare Exports also remembers to have a heart, as the boy struggles with his gruff and distant father. I can certainly see why this might disappoint many. It does present itself as a horror at times, and the climax sees all the plans work first time. I actually found this to be a refreshing change, to the usual Plan A-Plan D routes. It kept the pacing tight. I will be watching this again closer to Christmas, as it certainly gave me that Christmas evening feeling.
  • SirPant
    December 6, 2011
    SirPant
    The Finns make some awesome films; Rare Exports is an awesome film. If you fancy an alternative Christmas movie but have seen Bad Santa enough times already, this is for you. It premise is very creepy, it's also very silly but it never falls foul of the usual cliches found in hor... read moreror films and nor does it ever get very silly. It's very dark and yet by the end, it seems quite family friendly in a way. A brother's Grimm tale with a modern twist, refreshingly original.
  • theunknownhobo
    October 6, 2011
    theunknownhobo
    I didn't know what to expect from this film and although it did not deliver what I had in mind, the end result was still a very good film. It explores the true nature of Santa Clause, as not a jolly fat man in a suit that rewards the good and shakes his chubby finger at the bad, ... read morebut more a demon Santa if you will, that literally whips the flesh off of bad childrens bones. Refreshingly original, strangely hilarious and a rock solid performance from all cast members, Rare Exports has got enough twists and turns to keep you entertained as well as being ludicrous enough to keep your attention through the quiter moments. Definitely not your generic scary movie.

View All Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale Reviews

Critic Reviews

Jay Weissberg
January 5, 2011
Jay Weissberg, Variety

Conceived with winking humor and a terrific visual style, the pic is a rare treat. Full Review

Andrea Gronvall
January 5, 2011
Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader

Santa shows his dark side in this wildly idiosyncratic horror flick from Finnish writer-director Jalmari Helander. Full Review

Roger Ebert
December 23, 2010
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

"Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale" is a rather brilliant lump of coal for your stocking hung by the fireside with care. Full Review

Roger Moore
December 23, 2010
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

The dark days and darker nights of this bleak land of farmers who do their own butchering is an ideal setting for a horror riff on the Christmas myth. Full Review

Tom Russo
December 22, 2010
Tom Russo, Boston Globe

Too crazy? Good luck telling that to the filmmakers inviting you to spend the holidays with the anti-Claus. Full Review

Steven Rea
December 21, 2010
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale explores the dark side of the Santa Claus myth -- if myth he is -- and finds humor, and horror, lurking there. Full Review

Jennie Punter
December 17, 2010
Jennie Punter, Globe and Mail

Helander delivers a playfully dark tale with just the kind of cynical twinkle so many need during this season of maudlin, heart-warming movies. Full Review

Walter V. Addiego
December 16, 2010
Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle

It's dark fun, in the spirit of "Gremlins." Full Review

Jason Anderson
December 16, 2010
Jason Anderson, Toronto Star

Rare Exports turns out to be as heart-warming as Miracle on 32nd Street, albeit in its own twisted little way. Full Review

Michael Rechtshaffen
December 13, 2010
Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter

A darkly mischievous, bracingly original and thoroughly captivating Yuletide import. Full Review

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