History Film / RareExportsAChristmasTale

* CollectorOfTheStrange: The old man in charge of the dig gives off this vibe [[spoiler: wanting to dig up Santa, and not bothered in the least about the child eating.]] Pietari's and Juuso's fathers also apply because before they blow Santa Claus up, they cut off his horns as a CreepySouvenir.
* {{Expy}}: From his diminutive size, NiceHat, walking cane, spectacles, temper, and flashes of genuine wonder, the old man in charge bares an uncanny resemblance to a humanized [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Scrooge McDuck]]. Possibly intentional, as the character [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff is quite popular in Finland.]]

* BadAssAdorable Pietari

* HumanoidAbomination: Santa's Elves who look like ordinary human seniors citizens.
* TheKrampus: Santa Clause naturally
* [[MagicalNativeAmerican Magical Native]]: {{Averted}}: the Sami people didn't seal Santa with magic. Rather, they tricked him into running on a lake covered with thin ice which caved under his weight, and when he fell in he became frozen solid. Come summer, they pulled the ice block out of the lake and burried it under a mountain and used saw dust to prevent it from melting. They came face to face with a supernatural being and defeated technologically.

* NonActionBigBad: Santa Claus Justified as he's been frozen in a block of ice for centuries and buried deep beneath a mountain His elves are the real threat as they try to thaw him out and go around kidnappings children.

* OrcusOnHisThrone: Santa Claus Justified as he's been frozen in a block of ice and buried underneath a mountain for centuries

* WouldHurtAChild: And eat them, too.
* TheyLookLikeEveryoneElse: Part of the horror with Santa's Elves

* CollectorOfTheStrange: The old man in charge of the dig gives off this vibe [[spoiler: wanting to dig up Santa, and not bothered in the least about the child eating.]] Pietaries and Jussos father also apply because before they blow Santa Clause up they take his horns as CreepySouvenirs:

* BadAssAdorable Pietarie

* HowCanSantaDeliverAllThoseToys:

[[spoiler:After blowing up Santa]], a character remarks that now they know how he can be everywhere at once.

* {{Santabomination}}: What if the story of the discovery of the real Santa Claus was like ''Literature/AtTheMountainOfMadness''?

* NonActionBigBad: Santa Claus Justified as he's been frozen in a block of ice for centuries and buried deep beneath a mountain His elves are the real threat as they try that him out and go around kidnappings children.

* TheKramhpus: Santa Clause

* CollectorOfTheStrange: The old man in charge of the dig gives off this vibe [[spoiler: wanting to dig up Santa, and not bothered in the least about the child eating.]] Pietaries and Jussos father also apply because before they blow Santa Clause up they take his horns as
* CreepySouvenirs:

* CollectorOfTheStrange: The old man in charge of the dig gives off this vibe [[spoiler: wanting to dig up Santa, and not bothered in the least about the child eating.]] Pietaries and Jussos father also apply because before they blow Santa Clause up they take his horns as CreepySouvenirs

* BadassNative: The Sami people no doubt. Though no Sami is seen onscreen, there doesn't really have to be for the viewer to understand they're hardcore, since they managed to outsmart and bury Santa Claus. If that sound minimal, imagine this instead; [[spoiler:they managed to defeat a gigantic horned beast the size of a building carrying an equally large whiping twig for weapon.]]

* CollectorOfTheStrange: The old man in charge of the dig gives off this vibe [[spoiler: wanting to dig up Santa, and not bothered in the least about the child eating.]] Pietaries and Jussos father also apply because before they blow Santa Clause up they take his horns as CreepySouvenirs:

* CollectorOfTheStrange: The old man in charge of the dig gives off this vibe [[spoiler: wanting to dig up Santa, and not bothered in the least about the child eating.]] Pietaries and Jussoss father also apply because before they blow Santa Clause up they take his horns as CreepySouveniers:

* CollectorOfTheStrange: The old man in charge of the dig gives off this vibe [[spoiler: wanting to dig up Santa, and not bothered in the least about the child eating.]] Pietaries and Jussoss father also apply because before they blow Santa Clause up they take his horns as CREEPYSOUVENIRS:

* CollectorOfTheStrange: The old man in charge of the dig gives off this vibe [[spoiler: wanting to dig up Santa, and not bothered in the least about the child eating.]]

* HowCanSantaDeliverAllThoseToys: [[spoiler:After blowing up Santa]], a character remarks that now they know how he can be everywhere at once.

* WouldHurtAChild: And eat them, too.

* BadassNative: The Sami people no doubt. Though no Sami is seen onscreen, there doesn't really have to be for the viewer to understand they're harcore, since they managed to outsmart and bury Santa Claus. If that sound minimal, imagine instead; [[spoiler:they managed to defeat a gigantic horned beast the size of a building carrying a whiping twig for weapon.]]

* [[MagicalNativeAmerican Magical Native]]: Averted: the Sami people didn't seal Santa with magic. Rather, they tricked him into running on thin ice which caved under his weight, and when he fell in he became frozen solid. Come summer, they pulled the ice block out of the lake and burried it under a mountain and used saw dust to prevent it from melting.

* [[Magical Native American Magical Native]]: Averted: the Sami people didn't seal Santa with magic. Rather, they tricked him into running on thin ice which caved under his weight, and when he fell in he became frozen solid. Come summer, they pulled the ice block out of the lake and burried it under a mountain and used saw dust to prevent it from melting.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: They StuffBlowingUp blow up [[spoiler:Santa before he can be freed fully.]]

* NotEvenBotheringWithAnAccent: Mr. Greene, the second-in-command at the dig site, is supposed to be American (at least according to his passport), but his actor is clearly British. Riley, the guy funding the dig, is also clearly being played by a Finn.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rareexports_4770.jpeg]]

'''''Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale''''' is a Finnish horror film directed by Jalmari Helander. It is based on a series of short films by Jalmari and his brother Juuso.

* {{Expy}}: From his diminutive size, NiceHat, walking cane, spectacles, temper, and flashes of genuine wonder, the old man in charge bares an uncanny resemblance to a humanized ScroogeMcDuck. Possibly intentional, as the character [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff is quite popular in Finland.]]

* AdaptationExpansion - Of the original short films.

* AnAxeToGrind - Santa's little helpers use pickaxes.

* ChekhovsGun: Pietari constantly carries a large shotgun throughout the movie. [[spoiler:It is only fired once, and it is only to grab the attention of the adults.]]

* ChekhovsSkill: [[spoiler:The method of herding reindeer with the gates and lights is later used to round up the helpers.]]
* [[spoiler:DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu]]: [[spoiler:They [[StuffBlowingUp blow up]] Santa before he can be freed fully.]]
* [[spoiler:EldritchAbomination]] - Santa is revealed to be this.

* FaunsAndSatyrs - The old illustrations of Santa depict him with horns. It's worth noting that this is actually how he was presented in old Nordic folk tales and also why he's still called ''Joulupukki'' (Yule Goat) in Finnish. Although he was [[spoiler:human-sized, unlike in the film.]]

* HowCanSantaDeliverAllThoseToys - [[spoiler:After blowing up Santa]], a character remarks that now they know how he can be everywhere at once.
* MaleFrontalNudity - Santa's elves look like feral old men who run naked save for their beards in midwinter. And once again, it was all shot in real snow with real naked people.
* MallSanta - The original shorts purport to tell the true story of where the red-suited entities seen in stores at Christmas actually come from. [[spoiler:They're actually centuries-old cryptozoological wild men, captured and trained until they can be trusted to hold children on their laps without kidnapping them or ripping them apart.]] It's also revealed that [[spoiler:that these "Santas" are in fact just Santa's little elves. The ''real'' Santa is much, much worse.]]
* MilkingTheMonster - Kind of. [[spoiler: At the end, after the real Santa is effectively destroyed, the remaining "little helpers" are trained not to kill children and are exported to other countries to be sold as Mall Santas of their own, mostly to recoup the losses caused by the "helpers" killing all of Rauno's reindeer.]]
* TheNoseKnows - Santa and his elves are able to sniff out children.
* {{Prequel}} - TheMovie effectively serves as one for the short films as it shows [[spoiler:how the "Santas" came to be sold to other countries.]]
* TheReveal - [[spoiler: The 'Santa' captured by Pietari and his father is just one of his 'little helpers'. The ''real'' Santa is in fact a gigantic EldritchAbomination.]]
* SealedEvilInACan - In prehistoric times the Sami-folk of Lapland, tired of the tyranny of Santa, lured him on weak ice, and he sank to the bottom of the lake, which subsequently froze through. He was cut out and covered with tons of sawdust to keep him from melting, and then layers upon layers of dirt and stones over the centuries, until the Korvatunturi mountain on the border of modern Finland and Russia was formed. And on Christmas, an obsessed American millionaire decides to dig him out. He is not happy.
** [[spoiler:Thankfully however, he's never fully unsealed from the ice prison itself. Instead, he's [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu blown to bits]] before his elves can thaw him out.]]

* WouldHurtAChild - And eat them, too.

* {{Expy}}: From his diminutive size, NiceHat, walking cane, spectacles, temper, and childish wonder in treasure hunting, the old man in charge bares an uncanny resemblance to a humanized ScroogeMcDuck. Possibly intentional, as the character [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff is quite popular in Finland.]]