Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

Christmas is approaching in Finnish Lapland, where young Pietari lives with his father Rauno, a reindeer herder. When the herd is found dead, the boy becomes convinced that something dangerous is loose in the area. An American-led excavation in the mountain above the village has disturbed a burial site, and the creature buried there is not the kindly figure of Christmas tradition but something far older and more predatory.

The film follows Pietari and the villagers as the threat escalates, with children disappearing and the men setting a trap for what they eventually capture. Jalmari Helander wrote and directed this, his third feature-length film, arriving between his earlier work and Big Game (2014). Onni Tommila plays Pietari, with Jorma Tommila as Rauno, Tommi Korpela, Rauno Juvonen, Per Christian Ellefsen and Ilmari Järvenpää in supporting roles. The production was a Nordic-European co-production involving Norway, Finland, France and Sweden.

Made for about 2 million dollars, the film returned roughly 4 million worldwide, a solid multiple for a modest genre release. On IMDb it holds 6.6/10 from around 35,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.2/10 from 690 votes, while its critics' rating stands at 7/10 from 106 reviews, a notch above the general audience scores.