This movie is one of those ones that you kind of have to go down a rabbit hole to find. Last year, there weas an action film called “Sisu” that came out. It was set in Finland during the WWII era and featured Jorma Tommila as the titular character in the film. It was a wonderfully violent escapade into a ferocious elimination of some especially heinous Nazi forces. it was touted as a kind of John Wick-esque adventure and it did not disappoint. I was particularly happy that this film rose to the level it did, albeit still a relatively limited release and not a ton of advertising. It wasn’t exclusive per se, but it was far from a blockbuster release. But after I watched it, it was just the kind of movie that made me anxious to break off into other avenues of the connective tissue featured in the film. I wanted to look at the filmography of the director and the actors in the film. As I explored, I found the 2014 adventure called “Big Game” featuring some of the same players as Sisu. It also featured Samuel L. Jackson. Despite his willingness to be in just about anything, I did find his presence in the film to be a nod that it was more than likely worth checking out. I did so and the film currently sits on the shelf with the rest of my collection. So when it came time for me to comprise my list of the 31 Days of Horror, “Rare Exports” was an easy addition to the list. I hadn’t seen it yet but I had wanted to check it out on a number of other occasions. I even thought about just blind buying it since I was already 2 for 2 on Jorma’s flicks that director Jalmari Helander had been responsible for putting together. I’ll be honest, the steelbook import is still in my ebay periphery.
I don’t totally know how to break this movie down. It’s a Finnish movie. There are reindeer in it. It also happens to be about Santa Claus but I kind of feel like there would still be reindeer in the movie either way. I feel like I really enjoy the nature of Scandinavian cinema. I don’t necessarily feel like I know what categorizes films from this region of the world. I know my own personal heritage goes back to Sweden so maybe it’s some sort of calling from the homeland. I will say as it is meant to be a horror movie about Christmas. It’s not in the same vein as things like Silent Night, Deadly Night. It’s not quite as fast paced as Krampus but I’d say it maybe errs more in that style of film. In the movie Santa Claus is more of an ancient evil that is concealed in ice well below the surface in this arctic region. There is a dig going on to unearth him right near this community of reindeer herders. The film itself tends to rely more on implication of the impending terror than an outright exhibition of traditional horror fare.
The two main characters are a father and son played by Jorma and his real life son Onni. They live in this remote community several days before Christmas. Onni is on the edge of childhood where his way of life harkens him towards manhood. But he’s clearly not ready for it. He’s still just a child in many ways and is reliant on his father for everything. Rauno clearly loves his son but also knows that the world they live in is a harsh one where they must do what they have to in order to survive the elements. Their income is based on raising the reindeer but this is threatened by strange goings on surrounding this corporation and it’s mysterious dig up the mountain nearby their home. Onni begins to believe something sinister is after him and he tries to prepare for it as Christmas grows nearer. He prepares to defend his home and livelihood as best he can but he’s unsure if his efforts will be successful. On top of that, his dad has caught something in a homemade trap that he was not expecting. It appears to be an elderly, completely naked man. Confused on what to do with the body, he takes it into his shop for butchering only to find that the corpse is still alive. Now he’s got a whole other set of problems on his hands.
The film isn’t long and it doesn’t really drone on but the burn is still a little slow on this one. Not in a bad way. The pacing is good and the film is enjoyable. Foreign films always give me a little bit of a run for my money because we’ve been conditioned to allow for distractions in this country when it comes to the home entertainment mechanism. It’s riddled with distractions like phones and snacks and any number of other things set to vie for your attention. That’s hard to deal with when subtitles are involved. You can’t look away or you’ll have no idea what’s going on in the film. While I don’t find subtitles to be terribly obnoxious, there can be a part of them that divides your attention span. I have to focus on the words on the screen to know what’s happening which takes away from my ability to observe other things happening in the movie. Not to a terrific detriment but I have to acknowledge that its there. The one thing that kind of compounded this were the Finnish names and concepts. That’s always a little difficult when you’re also rivaling a culture you’re unfamiliar with like this. Regardless of these hurdles, I still quite enjoyed the film as a whole.
Honestly, I think that’s really all I have to say about this one. It’s entirely worth a watch. I think I’m going to give it a B- overall. That might be a little generous because I’ve enjoyed the other entries by these actors and director. I think the overall message of the film set against the storyline of the film really works. Again, this film is a little less than scary. Like I said, the horror is implied quite a bit. The stranger in the trap who turns out not to be dead has a very creepy air about him and we come across a number of other revelations throughout the unfolding of the plot that you can chalk up to the horror column. The way things turn out in the end there is a real triumph on a number of levels that wraps things up nicely. Not to totally spoil anything. My vague account here leaves much to the imagination. It’s currently streaming on Peacock so if you’ve got 90 minute this spooky season and you want something with a bit more international flair then check this one out. Until the next time, I’ll catch you on the flip side.
