[Yuletide Terrors] Day 9: RARE EXPORTS: A CHRISTMAS TALE

Throughout the month of December, we will be highlighting a film a day that has some tie into the holiday somehow. Some titles will be obvious, others won’t be. Some films will be good and, again, others won’t be. However, we think all titles are worth your time whether to give you chills inside your home or to make you drink more eggnog until you puke laughing.

The herding season and Christmas go hand in hand in Korvatunturi. And this year Pietari (Onni Tommila) gets to help his father, Rauno (Jorma Tommila), and the other hunters. He even gets his own gun. But there’s no reindeer. A search of the area reveals a field on slaughtered reindeer. Wolves are initially blamed and everyone is suspicious of the blasting happening on a nearby mountain. Talks of excavating a tomb. And on Christmas Day Ranuo captures something that looks an awful lot like Santa Claus. At the same time all the radiators in town have been stolen, children are missing and the demolition crew has gone quiet. And what exactly is buried under 486 meters under the mountain, and why does it still have a pulse?

I am pretty impressed by the balance this movie is able to maintain. It feels like a cross between Lady in White and Carpenter’s The Thing. It is a male dominated movie, with maybe one woman in the cast. And the early interactions with “Santa” are disturbing, especially once it sees Pietari. The cast is pretty good all round, especially young Onni Tommila. The only thing to criticize is some of the CGI effects, but that’s easily forgiven.

This is the second time I’ve seen Rare Exports and after this viewing I did a bit of digging. According to Finnish Folklore, Korvatunturi is where the location of Father Christmas’ workshop. Where all year he and his gnomes make toys. This movie serves as a prequel to two short films made by director. The online popularity of Rare Exports Inc. and The Offical Rare Exports Inc. Safety Instructions 2005 paved the way for the feature. The shorts can be viewed below, but I strongly suggest watching the movie first.

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