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.
An enjoyably dark yuletide nightmare.
Rare Exports is strange, very strange, and has its faults, but it’s also strangely wonderful in parts.
There’s a lot of fun to be had in this evocative Finnish horror.
We wanted it to be good and it is. Both warm and chilly on top, Helander’s well-mounted black comedy puts a devilish spin on movie Santas.
Writer-director Jalmari Helander has come up with a brilliant idea, but lacks the budget, cast or writing ability to develop it into a satisfying yarn.
Rent Bad Santa instead.
The ending is anti-climactic and the meaning of the title is only revealed in the laborious, jokey ending.
It’s rather slow to get going but turns into an effectively unusual horror-fantasy for teenagers.
While Rare Exports is certainly spooky, the plot is too thin to engage and its use of the F-bomb and full frontal male nudity make it a children's film which is unsuitable for children - hence the 15 certificate. File under "curio".
Shame about the shonky effects.
Uneven and slightly anti-climatic Rare Exports is still bracingly original.
A fairly sly critique of the commercialisation of the silly season with a gleefully reprehensible finale.
General release. Check local listings for show times.