At this time of year we get a nice, lovely Christmas movie that is supposed to make us feel all warm and fuzzy over the holiday season. For some reason the Fins did not get that memo.
Every culture seems to have their own Christmas story that involves an old man distributing presents to good children. But what if there was a Santa Claus that punished the bad children rather than rewarded the good ones. This is the premise of this brilliantly dark Christmas story from Finland. I'm a big fan of black comedies so this film really appealed to me. It is also very creepy and scary. Director Jalmari Helander does a wonderful job of building the tension and making Santa someone you fear rather than love. It is a world away from the jolly old fellow that was created by Coke. My one problem with the film has to do with the ending so stop reading if you don't want to be spoiled. I was disappointed that we did not get to see the huge evil Santa that they dug up. It would have been great to see him rampaging through the town. There is some wonderful visuals in the film, especially the horde of evil Santa's helpers running through the snow.
Onni Tommila plays the young boy in the film who is the only one to believe in the evil Santa. He is an excellent young actor and is wonderful in this film. He has a brilliant moment when he leads the charge at the end of the film which had me cheering. The rest of the cast is excellent too. Especially Peeter Jakobi as the evil Santa's helper that they capture. I must also give praise to all the other helpers and the bravery they show in this film.
One of the best Christmas movies ever made. I was cheering at the end of this film and loved the way it presents a very different look at the Santa Claus myth.
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