This odd, holiday inspired gem from Finland gives a big time nod to John Carpenter's The Thing. Rare Exports finds a group of diggers extracting a chunk of ice from the Korvatunturi mountains, but once this particular ice block defrosts, it might spell certain doom for the residents who live in the sleepy, snowy, village at the base of the mountain. What's in the ice you ask? Better you go into this one blind. Let's just say that Rare Exports takes an entirely new look at a beloved Christmas legend. This flick has been making the rounds at genre festivals and garnering enthusiastic buzz. While I greatly enjoyed the all-out weirdness the film had to offer, I was very surprised by its understated approach. Yes, this is a horror film of sorts and yes, it offers up several creepy moments, but Rare Exports goes in a direction I wasn't expecting and the dramatic flourishes throughout are most surprising. Take for instance the relationship between a villager and his son. Mom is no longer in the picture and there's a heartbreaking quality to the fashion in which these scenes are played.

The acting here is really strong as are the production values (most notably the cinematography), but watching a B movie plot with A list production values can be slightly disconcerting. The final act of this picture is so bizarre that I almost didn't know what to make of it, but having had time to reflect, I really dug its campy spirit and mixture of conflicting tones. Whether or not Rare Exports becomes a holiday tradition remains to be seen, but I'll be damned if I didn't enjoy it immensely--naked elves and all. Rare Exports is one rare import.