Excavators in Finland discover something buried in a mountain. A local boy (Onni Tommila) believes it to be Santa Claus. No, not the lovable gift-giving Santa of myth, but an ancient demonic creature that punishes naughty people. Soon children start disappearing and the boy must lead his father and others in rescuing them and stopping Santa's creepy helpers.
I've seen quite a few "evil Santa" movies over the years. Some are campy fun and others are mean-spirited garbage. This is one of the better movies of this type I've seen. It's entertaining, but not campy, and it has a smart story and solid production values. This isn't some low-rent made-for-DVD slasher flick. The direction, cinematography, music, acting -- everything is of a good quality. Onni Tommila is a talented child actor with a bright future ahead of him I'm sure. So if I liked this why didn't I rate it higher? Well, the story never pays off and the ending is totally underwhelming. Without giving away a specific spoiler, I'll just say that the movie teases something that it never follows through with. One other complaint I have is that the subtitles are sometimes hard to read because, in many scenes, the ground is covered in snow. So you have white letters over a white background, which is tough on the eyes. Despite these issues, I think this is an interesting and enjoyable film. It isn't as good as it could have been but it's certainly worth a look.
I've seen quite a few "evil Santa" movies over the years. Some are campy fun and others are mean-spirited garbage. This is one of the better movies of this type I've seen. It's entertaining, but not campy, and it has a smart story and solid production values. This isn't some low-rent made-for-DVD slasher flick. The direction, cinematography, music, acting -- everything is of a good quality. Onni Tommila is a talented child actor with a bright future ahead of him I'm sure. So if I liked this why didn't I rate it higher? Well, the story never pays off and the ending is totally underwhelming. Without giving away a specific spoiler, I'll just say that the movie teases something that it never follows through with. One other complaint I have is that the subtitles are sometimes hard to read because, in many scenes, the ground is covered in snow. So you have white letters over a white background, which is tough on the eyes. Despite these issues, I think this is an interesting and enjoyable film. It isn't as good as it could have been but it's certainly worth a look.