The film opens with a team of excavators working on the top of the Korvatunturi Mountain in Finland. The leader of the team explains that this is not a mountain, but the largest burial mound in the world, and they are attempting to unearth the occupant. A couple of the local village boys are spying on them at one point, and the younger of the duo speculates as to what they could be digging up and makes the leap to Santa Claus. He tells his older friend, who naturally laughs him off. After using heavy equipment and explosives, the mountain goes silent; they may have found what they are looking for. Meanwhile, the younger boy, Pietarie (Onni Tommila), has begun his own research into the Santa myth, and makes some horrifying discoveries: the real Santa didn't reward the nice, he just punished and ate the naughty (although, not being eaten sounds like a reward for being nice, so take it as you will). He also notices footprints in the snow on the landing outside of his window, as though someone is looking in on him at night. As Christmas draws nearer, Pietarie's father, Rauno (Jorma Tommila), and other local village men prepare for the annual reindeer herding, which will stock their freezers with meat, and fund the local economy with what they sell. They wait as the herd crests a hill, but instead of a herd, they get two scrawny runts, with no herd to be in sight. They follow the tracks of the two runts, and discover the rest of the herd, massacred on an epic proportion. They can only assume it was wolves, but Pietarie suspects something else.
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| "Wasn't us. We were practicing for our barbershop quartet performance." |
The village men place the blame of the massacred herd on the excavators of the mountain, and decide to go ask them some questions. They charge up the mountain to the dig site, only to find it unmanned and completely abandoned, along with a HUGE hole in the ground. Rauno lights a flare and tosses it in, but the light from it disappears before it can hit the ground. Baffled, the men return to the village to figure out what to do next. Shortly thereafter, Pietarie wakes and goes outside to relieve himself, and discovers that a wolf trap his dad had set has an occupant. He summons his father, who investigates and, not liking what he sees, sends Pietarie back into the house. Rauno summons one of the other men, Piiparinen (Rauno Juvonen) to help him and they transport what looks like an old man to Rauno's meat shed. The old man appears to be dead and the two men discuss what to do with him, finally deciding to dismember the corpse and dispose of it. As they prepare to do the deed, they discover the old man is actually alive, and quite ferocious as well. They are forced to restrain him, and Pietarie sneaks in to get a better look. The old man begins to sniff the air and turns his gaze on the boy, which leads to his father discovering him there. Pietarie then tells the tale of Santa Claus to the two men, and though met with some skepticism, they really have nothing else to go on. As they try to figure out what to do next, the sound of a walkie-talkie erupts from the pocket of the jacket that the old man was wearing. We learn that the voice is that of the leader of the dig, and he's looking for his head man, but the village men, who are still out of all the money from the slaughtered reindeer, are looking for their payday. They decide to ransom Santa back to the dig leader and makes plans to meet up with him and make the exchange. And here I put on the brakes, because what follows is a twist better than anything Shyamalan has tried.
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| "Hey, cut it out, will ya? I'm still working on stuff." |
This film was a genuine fun ride, normally I don't like reading my movies, but I didn't mind here. This film blends the perfect amount of thrills, suspense, action, and dark comedy to keep it rolling at a nice pace and just when you think you have it figured out, you don't. The ending will have you looking twice at mall Santas and you'll think twice about letting your child take a photo with one. As I said previously, I may not celebrate the holiday, but at least I have something to watch every year that takes a little of the "Humbug" out of me. I recommend adding this to your collection, and maybe you, too, will have a new holiday tradition.
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| 8 out of 10 Fists. |
