The Advent Calendar

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.

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.

We didn't watch any trailers or know what to expect, other than some of the reviews saying it's not really a horror movie.

Everything about this movie was surprising. My mouth fell wide open at least 3 times, which almost never happens to me. The movie gets all the predictable stuff out of the way in the first half, and then the second half is just amazing.

It's true that the movie builds little to no tension. But damn is it ever an interesting story that holds your attention to the end. There are some tonal inconsistencies here and there, which is why it fails to build any real tension. But it does succeed in keeping you *closely* engaged through the entire film.

The ending was also a surprise, although I can't say more about it.

The lead's performance is fantastic; you can't take your eyes off her, and i only noticed one misstep the entire movie, where it felt like she was an actress rather than a real character. The supporting acting is all top notch as well.

Some of the scene transitions were brilliantly executed. I felt the soundtrack was a little weak, and there were some intense scenes that I felt could have used a little bit of music. But overall the movie is solidly crafted, with some truly astonishing moments, and even a few cliches that are brought back to life in creative new ways.

The writing was really tight all around. It's impressive how much they managed to fit into this 104-minute runtime. I feel like this concept could easily have been spread out over an entire season of episodes. If anything, the movie felt a little bit rushed in places, especially in the beginning. But it settles into a solid mystery and delivers a satisfying ending.

What more can you ask for in a movie with a 6.6 rating?

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.

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.