Plot: On Christmas Eve in Finland, Santa Claus is unearthed in an archaeological dig. Soon after, children start disappearing, leading a boy and his father to capture Santa and, with the help of fellow hunters, they look to sell him back to the corporation that sponsored the dig. And then there's Santa's elves, who are determined to free their leader...
Ok, this is my first Finnish film. After watching, and loving, the Troll Hunter, I decided to give this a go having heard good things about it. Yes, it is set at Christmas time but that dosen't matter, horror is horror all year round. So is it any good? It's raindeer-tastic. Read on....
Santa and shotguns, nice combo.
The film starts out with the english speaking diggers but after 5 minutes or so it switches to the films own language, Finnish. Now, just like the Trol Hunter, the Fins sound a lot like the swedish chef from the muppet show and this will put some people off but seeing as I am not a racist I overlooked this and got on with reading the subtitles. The cast are all great. From the young kids to the rough, gruff adults, everyone does very well. The main lad,
Pietari Kontio does look a little bit mongoloid but he's Finnish so he probably is a little dur-brain. He is however, a very good actor.
Mongoloid, he was a mongoloid!
The tension builds up nice and quickly in this film. The scenery is stunning and it all has a very high production value look to it. After learning that mongoloid boys mother has died and it's just him and he's dad, we then get on to the horror. This is where the film left me confused and surprised. You see, this film isn't really a horror. Sure it has a horror theme, missing children being boiled alive, a demonic Santa with horns of a goat and hundreds of evil elves running round with their penises flopping about but really this is a kind of family action adventure. A really good one too, but not a horror.
You dirty old man.
The elves are great though. Very creepy. And there is moments of good tension and mild peril. The story is great and very original and this is once again showing boring old Hollywood that there are new stories to be told and that you don't have to make remake after remake.
Let's catch us some Claus.
So the film gets to the last 10 minutes after some nice creepy moments, and nice bit of humour ( which comes over really well seeing as it's in Finnish ) and some solid acting. Then comes the crazy arsed ending. It goes all CGI and fantasy like on you when your not expecting it at all. The only thing is, it works really well. If you ignore the hundred or so floppy cocks on the screen, this is classic fairy tale, happy endings and it should have you smiling. I was. Not at the cock though, uuugghhhh, no way.
All in all, this was another example of smaller countries showing us that great movies don't need to cost $100 million or come from America. Everything about this film screams American remake, with Spielberg at the helm, although probably with a lot less Pork Swords on screen. It dosen't need a remake, it's great as it is and it's a real shame that this won't be seen by many people because it isn't in english, but I can only, whole heartedly recommend it. It's the breath of fresh air the movies need. Lot's of cock though, yuk.
Summary:
Great because:
- Cast are excellent
- One or two creepy moments
- Original and new
- Feel good ending
Crap because:
- More of a family film then horror
- Could have been a tad darker
- More schlong then your avergae porn movie
Hamster Rating: 4
Gore: 1
Scares: 1
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