Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale film review

They don't come much weirder than this kids' festive film in which Santa Claus is not a rosy-cheeked man in red but a sinister, naked child abductor. While it does the soul good to know somebody out there is making movies this far removed from standard multiplex fare, just who is going to see this film? Not kids, that's for sure.

Set in a snowbound Finland in the days leading up to Christmas, a US expedition is digging into a mountain where Santa has been buried for hundreds of years. And it's not long before the reindeer are being slaughtered, the local children are going missing and a sinister old man is discovered bleeding and unclothed in an animal trap.

Revolving around a young lad called Pietari, this feels very much like one of those old 80s kids' films that wasn't afraid to scare its young audience but, while Rare Exports is certainly spooky, the plot is too thin to engage while its gratuitous use of the F-word and full frontal male nudity make it a children's film unsuitable for children. File under 'curio'.