Rare Exports: A Dark Film About The Real Santa Claus

Mikl-em
December 24, 2011

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale is a 2010 film about the “real” Santa Claus: an ancient, super-powered, child-eating sonuvabitch. This Finnish film, written and directed by Jalmari Helander and starring the adorable child actor Onni Tommila. Rare Exports is classed as a horror film, but it’s more a dark, scary Grimms’ Fairy Tale than a Hollywood holiday-themed slasher film. And it has a cutting comic edge as well.

Set in Lapland and incorporating various traditional pagan legends of Santa this feature film was preceded by a pair of internet-released short films which we posted here three years ago.

If that’s not enough, Roger Ebert gave it 3.5 out of 4 stars while comparing Rare Exports to both The Thing and A Christmas Story. I’d also recommend it for fans of equally off-beat Korean monster movie The Host.

Mikl-em

Actor, nerd, poet, producer, writer mikl-em made his name short so you wouldn't have to. In addition to his blog you can find his writing in "Hi Fructose" magazine and witness him almost life-sized in various plays at The Dark Room Theater in SF's Mission district.

He tends to write about theater, humor, San Francisco culture and history, and stuff that's just plain weird. He thanks Scott for sharing the keys to the Laughing Squid virtual HQ and promises to uphold whatever it is that the mirthful cephalopod would prefer to be uplifted.