MovieChat Forums > Rare Exports (2010) Discussion > Big Disappointment

Big Disappointment

posted 10 years ago by blupblup
12 replies | jump to latest

So I watched this for the first time tonight and sadly I was not particularly impressed.
There was great tension to start with and it seemed to be building to some sort of climax/showdown, but this never happened.
Some of the scenes in the slaughterhouse were great and had me almost on the edge of my seat...but for every great bit, there were also many flat, boring bits.

It lacked something too...not sure what, but it just had something missing, charm, emotion....not sure.

Walter Sobchak: Am I wrong?
The Dude: You're not wrong Walter. You're just an a**hole.

[–] TheBeardedWonder 9 years ago

It was lacking a point and a payoff. Stuff happens but we don't care about it, it just sort of goes through the motions until it ends. No people are really injured, especially the main characters. Ohhh scary! They walk away without even a scrape for the most part. The children aren't killed or eaten either, they are stuffed into sacks and brought to a warm room full of heaters. How spooky!

Buildup is important, but so is having some sort of payoff. We don't see Santa, he is blown up and that's that. For a movie ALL ABOUT the mythology of Santa, and how evil he is, and how we should all be scared of him, and how he's going to attack the children, etc, they never actually gave us any of that.

I saw this a few years ago and though 'meh, that's the one everyone is freaking out about?' Watched it again last night and had the same reaction. One of indifference and boredom...

'Get yourself a real dog. Any dog under 50 lbs is a cat and cats are pointless' - Ron Swanson

[–] blupblup 9 years ago

Yeah I really don't get the hype at all, oh well.

Sleep all day. Party all night. Never grow old. Never die. It's fun to be a vampire.

[–] MadRotaryOne_DDCgod 9 years ago

No one is killed, and this is a bad thing!!?!? WTF is wrong with you people?
If it's not like SAW 47, then it's no good??
This obviously was meant for younger people in mind, more of a Spielberg type of
movie. The movie IS NOT about Santa, it's about the kid, and how he finds out whats
going on and is trying to save the day.

[–] MadRotaryOne_DDCgod 9 years ago

DUDE!!? What are you talking about?? Why would you ever think this was some kind
of horror movie?? It's obviously a pitch black comedy, and it's freaking hilarious.
You have these tough as nails badas$ Finnish hunters that carry rifles everywhere,
even the kids, in fear of large as$ wolves, and they are arguing what to do with
the old guy LMAO!! They are these hard as$es that wouldn't be scared of nothing,
and they are scared sh!tless of 'santa'. The part where they are all sitting down,
eating gingerbread men, while 'santa' is hanging from the ceiling was the best, LOL.

[–] TheBeardedWonder 9 years ago

Alright, putting aside that it's definitely a horror movie or horror comedy at most (check the main page, it's listed as "Adventure, Fantasy, Horror"), it wasn't really funny either. I love dark comedies, this wasn't that dark though if you think about it. As I pointed out, it's basically a kids movie where nothing serious happens to any of the main characters. No one is ever in any real danger, so the film has no tension or reason to keep our attention. They build up Santa as a big powerful evil menace, but we get to see ZERO of that. Anyone can have characters talk about something, real writing/directing involves SHOWING us some of that. The kid from home alone does more damage in that movie than Santa does in this one.

None of your points refuted any of mine either by the way, you just brought up new stuff about why you liked it...

'Get yourself a real dog. Any dog under 50 lbs is a cat and cats are pointless' - Ron Swanson

[–] tomfern 8 years ago

I totally agree, madRotaryOne...it wasn't meant to be a bloody horror movie, it was a dark Christmas tale, most likely aimed at kids who like a creepy adventure story, like the Goosebumps series. But it will appeal to adults, too, unless they're only happy with slasher films where everybody dies in horrific ways. IMDB boards are teaming with those people, and the threads all start out..."Worst movie I ever saw..." or "Don't waste your time..." (cause nobody dies. :( )
I loved the cinematography, details like the housing interiors (except for the slaughterhouse. :( )The comic ineptitude of the big, burly hunter/farmer/miner types...the Christmassy decorations, the fact that all they ever ate was gingerbread...very atmospheric, and charming in an old world sort of way.
I also didn't mind that you only saw small bits of the 'real' Santa...much like a book with vague illustrations...it's up to the reader (viewer) to imagine the worst! Because, guaranteed...whatever they came up with would have just been another 'big disappointment' to those who were looking for something completely different...

[–] MadRotaryOne_DDCgod 8 years ago

Yes, exactly!!!!

Just watched the Goosebumps movie recently, and yeah I get the similarities.
I suspect that die hard horror fans, especially here is the U.S., were
expecting something different. I am one of the die hard fans myself, but I
can go with the flow.

We are getting into an era of lower budget smart horror movies that work on
a different level. Movies like 'Spring' and 'Entrance' are perfect examples
of recent mumblegore movies that are very well done.

[–] tomfern 8 years ago

Spring was unforgettable. I'll have to check out Entrance. 

Uh Oh... I just skipped over to the boards for Entrance...the first thread I saw was:

"WORST MOVIE EVER MADE IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD!"

So now I KNOW I'll like it! 

[–] MadRotaryOne_DDCgod 8 years ago

Entrance has to be the largest shift in tone EVER from the 2nd act to the 3rd, out of any movie that's ever been made.

Not to mention the fact that you can watch it multiple, multiple times, and still pick out things that are happening in the background that you missed the last time it was watched.

I am passing around a list of movies that are like the ones we were just discussing, I'll PM it to you. I haven't updated it in awhile, but if you have any that you can add that are NOT mainstream please do and pass it forward.

[–] fountainhead (318) 6 years ago

I love almost everything else about this movie; the buildup, the atmosphere, the cinematography, etc., but it was severely lacking a payoff. We wanted to see Santa thawed out, even if only briefly. It's like having Jurassic Park with the T-Rex stuck in the pen the whole time. Instead, when I think of the antagonist in this movie, all I'm gonna think of is dirty, naked old men.

Granted, it had a much bigger budget, but an example of a movie like Rare Exports that had a better payoff is Krampus. They showed just enough of Krampus for the audience to fear him.

[–] Anotherday (6879) 2 years ago

Just watched it and I agree.

[–] StoneKeeper (21187) 2 years ago

I just watched it and I actually haven’t thought about that until I read it here and now I do feel like I want to see the Santa in the ice too… that sucks. But it doesn’t take away that it’s one hour and 20 minutes of pure entertainment. Instant classic in my book.