Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
Oscilloscope Pictures | Release Date: December 3, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
The Hollywood ReporterMichael RechtshaffenDec 11, 2010
A fiendishly entertaining Christmas yarn rooted in Northern European legend and lore, complete with a not-so-jolly old St. Nick informed more by the Brothers Grimm than Norman Rockwell. Read full review
90
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisDec 6, 2010
The focus of this bizarre Finnish fairy tale - as black as anything the Brothers Grimm could have dreamed up - is a sinister old codger who chews off ears and whose demon minion kidnaps innocent children. Ho ho no! Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertDec 24, 2010
A rather brilliant lump of coal for your stocking hung by the fireside with care. How else to explain an R-rated Santa Claus origin story crossed with "The Thing"? Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesSheri LindenDec 9, 2010
What unfolds is a dark comic thriller and action-hero send-up, a strange alloy of daredevil helicopter maneuvers and night of the living elves. Captured in atmospheric widescreen camerawork, the end-of-the-world frozen landscape (actually Norway) is spectacular and spooky. Read full review
80
EmpireKim NewmanDec 6, 2010
If you're a bah-humbug type looking for an alternative to Santa Claus: The Movie or Miracle On 34th Street, this could be a holiday perennial. May be too strange for normal people, but weird kids will love it. Read full review
75
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottDec 25, 2010
To be clear: Despite the holiday flavor, and despite the pint-sized hero, this is no kids' movie. There is swearing. There is blood. There is an army of 180 very nude Santas coursing through the snow. That's not the kind of thing Frank Capra ever could have dreamed of -- and that change of pace is exactly what makes Rare Exports a rare, if unexpected, holiday treat. Read full review
75
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreDec 25, 2010
You'd better watch out. You'd better not swear. Have a gun handy, loaded for bear. Santa Claus is coming…to Finland. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaDec 21, 2010
This Santa Claus story is for a midnight movie crowd, not the kiddie matinees. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jennie PunterDec 17, 2010
A taut, gorgeously filmed and enjoyably wicked cinematic treat. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoDec 16, 2010
It's dark fun, in the spirit of "Gremlins." Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayDec 6, 2010
Slight but fun. Read full review
70
Boxoffice MagazineSara Maria VizcarrondoDec 7, 2010
This oddball tale of life on a snowy mountainside is consistently upbeat and surprising, with action intensity that stays sturdily at "Goonies" level. Read full review
70
Village VoiceMark OlsenDec 6, 2010
It's likely the best anti-Christmas Christmas movie since "Bad Santa." Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovDec 9, 2010
Much of Rare Exports is seen through the eyes of its preteen protagonist, which explains some of the story's minor omissions (who, exactly, hired this nefarious multinational mining outfit and why exactly?). Read full review
63
New York PostV.A. MusettoDec 6, 2010
It isn't recommended for impressionable children, who might well experience nightmares. But for grown-ups looking for an alternative to the annual onslaught of ho-ho-ho Christmas tales, the visually pleasing oddity is just the thing, even if it does slow down in its middle portion before picking up again. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfDec 6, 2010
Some moments are so deliciously shivery-our heroes' breath condensing in the air like in John Carpenter's "The Thing"-that you wish the film were naughtier and less nice. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderAndrea GronvallDec 24, 2010
Based on two of his previous shorts, this lurid vision is good for a few laughs-some intended, some not. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTom RussoDec 21, 2010
Finnish filmmaker Jalmari Helander's dark-comic expansion on his cult Internet shorts, in which he crafts a back story for Santa that's as black as stocking coal. Read full review
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