Rare Exports Is the Christmas Horror Classic You’ve Been Missing

Every December we all end up in the same argument: what actually counts as a Christmas movie? If it has tinsel and an elf, sure. But then you throw in Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron Man 3 (Shane Black, we see you), and the whole thing gets fuzzy fast. Easier solution: stop debating labels and ask if the movie slaps. Which brings me to a 2010 Finnish oddity that somehow turned into a modern holiday staple. It is strange, it is smart, and it might be the best 'evil Santa' movie ever made. Let’s talk Rare Exports.

From quirky shorts to full-blown feature

This all started small. In 2003, Finnish commercial outfit Woodpecker Film dropped a short called 'Rare Exports, Inc.' It’s about three hunters in Lapland (Finland’s massive northern region) tracking down a mysterious creature that turns out to be the original Santa Claus. They capture him, scrub him up, teach him to smile and ho-ho on cue, then ship him around the world as a literal rare export. Killer premise, instantly viral energy.

The response was strong enough that the same team, led by writer-director Jalmari Helander, made a second short in 2005: 'Rare Exports: The Official Safety Instructions.' Same tone, same dry wit, more world-building. The two shorts picked up a cult following in Finland and abroad, especially in the U.S.

Helander then teamed with producer Petri Jokiranta, whose company Cinet backed a feature version. Development kicked off in 2007, full production rolled in 2009, and the movie hit worldwide in late 2010 as a Finland-Norway-Sweden co-production. On a modest $1.8 million budget, it grossed about $4 million and became a critics’ pet, sitting around 90% on Rotten Tomatoes with praise from heavyweights like Roger Ebert and Kim Newman.

Who made it (and why it keeps circling back to family)

Rare Exports was Helander’s first feature, and it lit the fuse for a very particular career: the TV series 'Wingman,' the 2014 survival-action 'Big Game' with Samuel L. Jackson, and more recently the bone-crunching 'Sisu' and its 2025 sequel. He’s also been tapped to take a swing at the Rambo franchise with the prequel 'John Rambo.' No pressure.

The movie is a family affair on screen and off. The leads are played by real-life father and son Jorma Tommila and Onni Tommila. Onni’s kept working with Helander and his dad since, popping up in 'Big Game' and 'Sisu.' Jorma, meanwhile, has morphed into an unlikely action figure in the Jean Reno/Liam Neeson lane thanks to his stoic, lethal turn as Aatami in 'Sisu' and its 2025 follow-up. Also fun: Helander co-wrote those original shorts with his brother. The guy likes keeping it in the family.

So what is this thing actually about?

• An American-British dig team is excavating in Lapland, convinced they’ve found an ancient burial that will make them filthy rich.
• Two local kids, Juuso and Pietari, keep tabs on the operation. Juuso tells Pietari that Santa is real and not the Coca-Cola version; he’s a punisher of children. Pietari finds an old book that backs it up, panics a little, shuts his advent calendar early, throws together DIY armor, and tries to get the drop on Santa before Santa gets him.
• The village gears up for its annual reindeer harvest and discovers almost the entire herd has been slaughtered. Everyone blames the miners. When they storm the dig site, the crew has vanished, leaving a huge hole in the ground.
• On Christmas Eve, a wolf trap snags something else: a naked old man who looks dead. He’s not. They suit him up like a Santa, and suddenly local kids start disappearing — except Pietari.
• The old man bites one of his captors, which is everyone’s clue that this is not Santa.
• Turns out he’s an elf, and there are a lot more just like him — a swarm of feral old men — while the real Santa is a giant horned monster frozen deep below.
• The villagers hatch a plan: destroy the big guy, corral the elves, and repurpose them as export-ready mall Santas for the world. That’s your title payoff.

Why it hit when it did

Holiday horror usually breaks into two buckets: grounded nastiness ('Black Christmas,' 'Silent Night, Deadly Night') or supernatural mayhem ('Gremlins,' 'Krampus'). Rare Exports is firmly in the second camp and still sits near the top because it plays the Santa myth as ancient and genuinely scary, not campy. And it beat the 2010s wave to the punch — years before 'Krampus' or 'A Christmas Horror Story' went mainstream.

It also arrived during a late-2000s/early-2010s run when international horror was routinely outpacing domestic stuff. Think 'I Saw the Devil,' 'Trollhunter,' 'We Are What We Are,' and Japan remixing a hit with 'Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night.' A classic genre beat kept popping up in that era too: kids clock the truth way before the adults do. Rare Exports leans into that and nails it.

What still works

This thing cruises. At 82 minutes, it’s tightly engineered — strong sense of place, sharp performances, and a story that expands on the shorts without feeling padded. It’s familiar enough to feel cozy but constantly subverts where you think it’s going.

The best trick is the late-game reveal that the creepy old man is just an elf. It mirrors the whole idea of mall Santas being "helpers," then cranks it into something feral and funny and unnerving. The art direction is terrific too: the dig site looks convincingly dangerous, and the illustrated book detailing Santa’s nastier side is so good I’d buy a replica in a heartbeat. The way it braids Santa and Krampus lore together just works.

Where it creaks a little

I wish there were more of it. The mythology could easily support a two-hour feature or a lean miniseries. We’re pushing 15 years on and a sequel seems unlikely — and no, we do not need an American remake to fill that gap.

Also, yes, some English is spoken, but it’s primarily in Finnish. If subtitles scare you, this won’t convert you. And while the budget mostly plays in the film’s favor, the actual Santa silhouette (the big bad) is the one visual I wanted to feel even more imposing. None of this breaks the spell.

The verdict

No coal needed: Rare Exports still rules. It’s clever, lean, and weird in the best way — easily a top-10 holiday horror watch and the kind of movie you can toss on every December whether you’re wrapping gifts or just mainlining coffee. Rare Exports is, fittingly, a rare treat.