I first heard about this movie last month at TIFF, but alas, I could not fit it into my schedule. Needless to say, I’m stoked that Oscilloscope Laboratories have since picked it up and will give the film a limited U.S. release next month. Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale is a Finnish genre flick that imagines what might happen if Santa Claus wasn’t the jolly old soul that you hear about in children’s stories. In this case, he’s actually kidnapping children, until a group of reindeer hunters manage to capture St. Nick and hold him captive. While they try to sell him to a multinational corporation, Santa’s army of elves are coming to exact their revenge.

Director Jalmari Helander built on his 2003 short film Rare Exports Inc. in order to create this feature-length version. While it could definitely come across as gimmicky, if done right, it could also be a new cult classic to go alongside such holiday favourites as Black Christmas and Santa Claus Conquers The Martians. Either way, there’s so much other typical family dreck that comes out every year around Christmas that this will make for a nice change of pace. Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale hits select theatres on December 3rd; check out the trailer after the jump and see what you think.