Film

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

Name: Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
Genre: Fantasy, Horror
Released: 2010
Cast: Onni Tommila, Jorma Tommila, Tommi Korpela, Rauno Juvonen, Per Christian Ellefsen

A Finnish horror-fantasy that strips away Christmas sentimentality to excavate something genuinely unsettling beneath. Lean, inventive, and willing to treat its premise with absolute seriousness, it manages to be both deeply weird and deeply felt—a film about a boy, his father, and the corrupting weight of legend. Thrilling and strange.

TMDb rating

3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like folk horror that plays its monsters with a straight face and a dry, almost deadpan sense of humour, the kind where a tiny village's old traditions feel older and stranger than any jump scare.

Skip it if you want a tight scare machine or a brisk plot; it wanders through village life and long stretches of quiet snow, and its gross-out bits and bleak comedy may land badly with some viewers.

What it asks of you: Patience for an unhurried first half before the chaos arrives, then a shift into rowdier, nastier energy across its 83 minutes. You need to be comfortable with the mood tilting between eerie and absurd.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Wailing2016

A South Korean horror film where the dread builds from ambiguity rather than jump scares. Like Rare Exports, it trusts the audience to sit with uncertainty and finds horror in what we cannot quite understand or control.

But It's nearly three hours long, complex, and resists easy answers. The narrative structure can feel deliberately frustrating if you want clarity.

Let the Right One In2008

A Swedish vampire film that treats its supernatural premise with such restraint and emotional honesty that the horror feels earned rather than imposed. Both films share a cold Nordic landscape and a child protagonist navigating adult horror.

But Pacing is slow and deliberate. If you need constant momentum, the quiet stretches might test your patience.

Troll Hunter2010

A Norwegian found-footage film that plays its fantastical premise completely straight. Like Rare Exports, it's a Scandinavian production that treats folklore as a credible threat and finds dark humour in the collision between myth and mundane reality.

But Found-footage format can feel gimmicky, and the special effects, while inventive, show their budget limitations.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Paperhouse1988

Both films trust a child's perspective on horror without condescension, treating their fear as legitimate and their agency as crucial to survival.

A British children's film where a girl's drawings become a nightmare landscape she must navigate. Like Rare Exports, it's unflinching about terror experienced by a young protagonist and refuses to soften its premise for its audience.

But It's visually dated and plays with dream-logic that can feel sluggish. The low budget is obvious.

The Ritual2017

A creature-horror film set in a Scandinavian forest where the threat is both mythological and visceral. It shares Rare Exports' interest in folk horror and in how isolation amplifies dread.

But The second half relies more heavily on conventional jump-scares. Character decisions occasionally strain credibility.

The Wretched2019

A creature-horror film that takes place during summer and treats suburban America with the same matter-of-fact seriousness Rare Exports brings to arctic Finland. Both hinge on a young protagonist discovering something genuinely wrong.

But Low-budget aesthetic means the scares depend more on atmosphere than spectacle. Some will find it too slight.

Come True2020

An unsettling sci-fi horror film with a dreamlike visual language and a young protagonist caught in something sinister. It matches Rare Exports' commitment to mood over conventional narrative satisfaction.

But It's deliberately vague and abstract. If you need plot clarity and resolution, this will frustrate you.

A Dark Song2016

An Irish folk-horror film about grief and spiritual desperation that treats its supernatural elements with genuine reverence. Like Rare Exports, it finds something true buried beneath the genre machinery.

But Extremely slow and meditative. It's a film about waiting and endurance rather than action or conventional horror beats.

Under the Skin2014

An alien-horror film shot with such visual precision and restraint that the terror becomes almost abstract. Both films prove that horror works best when what we don't understand is more frightening than what we do.

But The narrative is deliberately oblique and many viewers find it pretentious or inaccessible. It demands patience and interpretation.

It Comes at Night2017

A claustrophobic horror-thriller where the real threat might be internal. Both films understand that the most effective horror often comes from isolation, paranoia, and the breakdown of trust.

But The ending provides no catharsis or clear answers. Some viewers feel cheated by its refusal to explain itself.

Derry Girls2018

Both are deeply rooted in regional identity and find something unsettling and specific in the landscape and culture of their setting. Both refuse to make their location quaint.

A Northern Irish comedy-drama about adolescence set in the 1990s that finds genuine darkness and weirdness beneath the humour. It shares Rare Exports' understanding that childhood is genuinely strange and that location is character.

But It's a comedy first, so if you're looking for sustained horror, the tonal shifts will disappoint. Some find the accent work difficult.

The Babadook2014

Both films use their supernatural premise to explore genuine human loss and the ways families protect each other through denial. Both suggest the real horror is internal.

An Australian horror film about grief disguised as a creature feature. Like Rare Exports, it uses fantasy-horror language to explore something psychologically true—the way trauma manifests and the price of denial.

But It's an emotional horror film, not a visceral one. If you want scares, you might find it slow and heavy.