The Advent Calendar

Wow, I didn't expect this age-old tale of obeying an supernatural object or die to be this good. It partially reminded me of Monkey Shines and has that feel blended with a more tone downed Malignant. For a Christmas Horror, you can't go wrong even though I doubt it'll be a yearly viewing.

It's easy to scoff at the ridiculous premise, assigning sinister origins to innocuous items is usually a sign of a stupid movie, and "evil advent calendar" is as dumb as they come. Yet somehow they managed to wring a quality picture out of this ludicrous idea.

The tone is uniformly dark and serious, with the camerawork capturing some great low light shots and Eugénie Derouand expertly showcasing her character's turmoil. The plot mixes it's supernatural themes with the real world tragedies of living with a disability, and has an interesting focus towards the moral quandary of inflicting harm on others to service yourself. It all heats up to some gruesome ends, the effects work on the monsters is stellar, it's an inventive creature that's scary as hell without looking the least bit cheesy, and though things get pretty bloody, it's never as uncomfortably squeamish as other French horror films have been. I may have preferred a more conclusive resolution, but I still see the merit in how they chose to wrap things up.

You have to tip your hat to Patrick Ridgemont on this one...because not only has he made a pretty cool film...but the concept itself is downright brilliant...as it's replicability is designed right into the story.

I'm sure he was influenced by the Saw series...and felt he could do better than the goofy spiral eyed character from the Saw films.

Because he does exactly that here with what is almost certainly a prop based on the dybbuk box- which was an alchemically sealed wine cabinet said to be harbouring some sort of demonic Jewish spirit that was sold on ebay.

Only, here it's been extrapolated into this really rad looking German advent calendar (the film is Belgian, but in French by the way) that seems to target people with disabilities, as a sort of puzzle box of death...in what can only be described as a f***ed up game where they're given the choice to live free from their disability, in exchange for...let's just say...a bunch of murder...

The whole thing is incredibly creepy. The monster is pretty cool. And there's a pretty rad little twist in the end.

So it's a pretty decent and worthwhile little film!

With big potential to become a full blown Christmas horror franchise.

As, obviously- like I already mentioned above- it sets itself up for a sequel, in a way that is very easily replicable, with a model where you can change up pretty much everything to suit the shifting context.

I guess you might argue that they'll eventually run out of disabilities to cover...but you could always go niche...to space...the hood...las vegas?... I dunno...have some crossover fun with Evil Bong?!

Or just change the rules, I guess.

Anyways...it's a shudder original film, so I'm sure they're pleased as santa's piss they've got a little franchise on their hands here.

Hopefully they don't go and mess up what is currently a good thing!

7 out of 10.

The Advent Calendar was a pretty good little story. I don't think people looking for traditional horror will find it scary in the least. In fact, I really didn't think it built much tension at all, but it did draw me in and had me really wanting to see how it turned out. Another thing I will warn potential viewers about is that it is somewhat inconsistent in its storytelling. Much of it unfolds like a straightforward thriller (with some supernatural elements), but every once in a while, they throw in a moment that feels more surreal or symbolic. Finally, I want to prepare you for the possibility that you might feel like some things went unexplained. I personally didn't mind these minor nitpicks. I was just glad the whole thing didn't fall apart in the final act, like so many thrillers do. I was satisfied with what they gave me. While I will not give it a strong recommendation, being that it isn't all that shocking or visceral, my feeling is that it was an enjoyable enough ride that I don't regret sitting through it. A fun little holiday-themed offering.

The movie is a bit disjointed.

The hospital scene cuts abruptly.

Some of the candies are eaten by other people (William in his mulled wine, the patient in the hospital, Sophia's boyfriend as an erection pill, Eva's father and that too twice).

According to the rules, all the candies were supposed to be eaten by Eva.

The kill sequences aren't nasty or shockings n there is an offscreen sex scene and almost zero nudity.

At times, Wishmaster part 4, The Craft n various other horror movies based on wishes came to mind.

I still cannot dig what Eva wrote on the mirror n why was that scene made.

But somehow the movie is captivating n it has a sense of dread throughout.

The demon in this one ain't scary or nasty.

Check out the demon from Kandisha.

The demon frm Kandisha is intimidating, malevolent n it tears apart it's victims in gruesome ways.