Rare Exports (2010, Finland)

Possibly the best evil Santa film I’ve seen, and definitely one of the better films, period, that I’ve seen this year, Rare Exports is a delightfully nasty little package of holiday treats. Clocking in at a brief 84 minutes, it keeps the action moving briskly along, never wearing out its high-concept welcome. The conceit? Santa is real, and he’s real mean. Instead of the holly, jolly fat man most Western children are told about from the time they can crawl, this Father Christmas is an evil spirit, held captive deep in an icy prison along the Finland-Russia border until some unwise industrialists release him . . . and his hoards of naked elves (that must have been a fun casting call). And who can stop Santa from rampaging throughout Scandinavia? A young boy named Pietari – the only villager who’s bothered to do his research – aided by three of the town’s rough reindeer hunters.

That’s Rare Exports in a nutshell, but in reality, it’s much more – a clever black comedy, an effective thriller, and a surprisingly touching portrait of a boy and his father seeing one another through tough times. It’s a bit more than a little cracked-out, too – a must-see for anyone even mildly interested in watching dozens of naked old Finnish men with shovels and clubs chase people through the forest on Christmas Eve.

(If all of this doesn’t sound completely insane, don’t forget to check out the two “prequel” shorts to Rare Exports, available on the Woodpecker Films website. I would recommend saving them until after seeing the feature, though, as I found that some of the funniest bits of the first short are pretty heavily recycled in the longer version.)