Putting an edgy spin on Christmas isn’t new, but before the likes of Krampus, Violent Night, and Dear Santa came Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale. From Finnish director Jalmari Helander, Rare Exports is a horror comedy about a young boy named Pietari (Onni Tommila) who discovers that a nearby drilling operation has unearthed what they believe to be the original Santa Claus. But this isn’t the jolly old Saint Nick with whom we’re familiar today: instead, Pietari learns that the original Santa was known as Joulupukki and is a child-stealing monster that could wreak havoc on the world if set free.
The absurdity of seeing this small child set traps and boss around adults while trying to fend off Santa and his helpers is the core of Rare Exports’ humor, but the horror side of things is just as good; Pietari’s concerns are well-founded, as some of the adults around him find out far too late. And it’s Pietari’s character that really sells the movie; he’s young enough to believe in strange things but treats them with the severity of an adult, and the juxtaposition of the two is so fun to watch.
Pietari Is a Mini Action Hero in ‘Rare Exports’
Not only was Rare Exports years ahead of the surge of “scary Christmas” movies of the last few years, but it also features a unique spin on the resourceful child protagonist like Home Alone‘s Kevin McCallister. Pietari is a young boy who first believes in the modern version of Santa Claus, then quickly shifts his belief to the more traditional darker version, Joulupukki. That kind of child-like belief is typical of many Christmas movies — but Pietari is anything but typical. Instead of being wide-eyed and naïve, he takes the supernatural events of the movie with complete seriousness, poring over books on myths and legends about the original Santa with all the intensity of a hard-boiled detective.
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To Pietari, the existence of Joulupukki and his helpers is just a stone-cold fact, and hearing him discuss fantastical things like Santa and elves with such gravity is fun to watch; it’s compounded by the fact that things are so serious that he needs to carry around a rifle, but the gun is comically about as big as he is. Still, his age and physical stature don’t stop Pietari from being a full-on action hero when needed. He’s the one who ends up giving orders to the adults as the situation becomes more dire, and he puts himself in the most dangerous position to save everyone else from the wrath of Santa and his helpers, hanging from a helicopter during the climactic rescue scene.
‘Rare Exports’ Made Santa Horrifying Years Before ‘Krampus’
Rare Exports might rely on the absurdity of the situation for its humor, but that doesn’t mean it skimps on the scares. Like 2015’s Krampus, Rare Exports uses traditional European folklore to turn the merry Christmas holiday into something twisted. But Rare Exports not only did it five years earlier but it’s also set in the country where Joulupukki hails from; one of the alternate international titles even includes “From the land of the original Santa Claus.” When Pietari is researching “the truth” about Joulupukki, some of his books show the figure sitting on top of a throne of skulls, devouring reindeer, and kidnapping naughty children and whipping them bloody with a switch, sometimes even eating them.
While there isn’t a ton of violence shown onscreen, when reindeer are slaughtered and Pietari finds bare footprints in the snow, as shown in his books, the established folklore helps set a tone of dreadful anticipation. It’s clear that if these parts of the legends are true, so must the more violent aspects. If Pietari doesn’t stop Santa, he and all the other children in town are doomed. Things escalate when Pietari’s father and his friends get their hands on the potential Joulupukki/Santa, confirming Pietari’s worst suspicions and tearing down the audience’s ideas of a jolly, happy Santa. The creature they capture looks mostly humanoid, but he’s very thin, smells disgusting, is covered in filth, and has eyes that occasionally glow gold.
Then, in a shocking and gruesome moment, the creature bites the ear off of one of the adults. And if one of these creatures is that creepy, imagine if there were a whole herd of them, dragging people off into the darkness and splitting heads open with pickaxes. Seeing dozens of what look like dirty old men running completely naked through the snow, looking for victims is absurdly disturbing; a blend of sensibilities that Rare Exports consistently delivers well. The sequence is part of a third-act reveal that’s best experienced with no prior knowledge, so no spoilers here. Suffice it to say that the ending is where the humor of Helander’s film reaches its peak, and it’s quite literally a blast getting there. Rare Exports is a genuinely fresh and funny twist on holiday horror that you shouldn’t miss.
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale is available to stream in the U.S. on Peacock.
