RARE EXPORTS DEBUTS AT THE GRAND WITH FREE SCREENING THURSDAY >>>

"He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake..." growls the tongue-in-cheek voiceover during the trailer for Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, a Finnish import debuting at The Grand Cinema with a Dec. 16 free screening. Will this sinister Santa flick unravel into nostalgic camp like its ‘80s predecessors, Christmas Evil or Silent Night, Deadly Night? Or, like Sweden's popular vampire yarn Let the Right One In, will it instead offer American audiences a fresh take on another centuries-old myth? Either result would have pleased me, but Rare Exports decides on the higher road and reexamines its origin story with an unrelenting air of seriousness.

In the bowels of a remote mountain in Finland, an excavation by Subzero Incorporated and its craggy-faced Dickensian owner unearth...something. Pietari, a boy from a small village nearby, automatically pegs this discovery as the final resting place for one Saint Nick. And disturbing a legend's slumber, whether a mummified Egyptian or a frozen Finn, means only one thing for unsuspecting grave robbers: swift comeuppance. Other strange phenomena also occur: a farmer's collection of potato sacks vanishes; an unknown creature slaughters the town's yearly haul of reindeer. Probably just wolves, right?

Then one day Pietari's father finds a filthy, gaunt old man on his property - has Santa Claus finally come to town?

Director Jalmari Helander deftly milks every ounce of tension from the script's original premise. His film captures a mood similar to that in There Will Be Blood - beautiful cinematography masking a pervading sense of unease among characters and events. The brutal environs and driving score seem to plunge son and father toward an evil they can't comprehend. Small details such as a calendar date or drawings from a children's book carry ominous overtones. Even a recurring visual, the countdown to Christmas Day, bears a mark of impending doom. All these elements succeed in whisking viewers along for 84 minutes toward a surprise twist and satisfying finale, making Exports that rare alternative to traditionally sunny Yuletide cinema.