Joyeux Noël! We are heading to France for my next review for what I believe must be the first time, forgive me if I am mistaken. One positive about doing these 25 Christmas reviews every year means that I have to branch out in order to not just watch terrible American Christmas films, and that means finding Christmas films from all over the world. The fact that The Advent Calendar (2021) is also a horror film is just an added bonus in my book. The film follows Eva (Eugenie Derouand), a paraplegic who is still coming to terms with her disability. Her friend, Sophie (Honorine Magnier), brings her an elaborate advent calendar from Munich, which has a very specific set of rules you have to follow and if you are able to you are granted a wish at the end. Eva does not take much notice of this until things start happening that seem to be as a consequence of the advent calendar, and she has to decide how far she is willing to take the consequences.
This feels very much like a film that has an interesting concept, but the execution leaves a little something to be desired. That isn’t me saying that the film is bad, and overall, I enjoyed it. It starts off very strong in setting up Eva and her struggles as well as her relationships with all the secondary characters who are to become cannon fodder as the film goes on. And the film establishes the titular advent calendar very well also. The design of it is great, having a look of the ‘oldie-worldie’ about it but also not being over extravagant which the film could have fallen into the trap of. Having it be German adds to the intrigue as it gives it a foreign flavour to our characters and adds to this whole feeling of something of the ‘old world’. The first couple of incidents arising from the advent calendar do a good job of keeping the legitimacy of what is happening more mysterious, and this is when the film is at its strongest for me.
The film loses its way a little bit once the more extreme consequences of the advent calendar start to appear, but I think a lot of this just comes down to personal preference. I wanted this film to go down a more psychological-thriller avenue, with the incidents all being up for debate whether they are actually happening or if it is Eva losing her mind a bit. The rest of the characters within the film follow this way of thinking for large chunks of the film, but as an audience, we are not afforded this opportunity and it is made quite clear that everything that is happening is legitimate. Again, this isn’t a huge issue, but it is more of just a personal preference on my end. One thing I did have an issue with was the ending of the film. It presents a twist to the rules on the calendar which works, is logical, and I don’t have a problem with it. But the ending is the basic epitome of the ‘great concept poor execution’ s it doesn’t end in a satisfying way. It presents this moral dilemma for the characters and then just decides to cut the film. I guess you could say it leaves it up to the audience, but the rest of the film doesn’t do that and even if it did do that it doesn’t make it obvious that is what it is going for.
Despite the film taking directions I wouldn’t have and having an ending that didn’t particularly do much for me, for the most part, this was a fun horror film with an interesting concept. The performances are all good and it is technically proficient, these aspects aren’t the selling point for this film. If you are looking for a different kind of Christmas film then you could do worse than to watch this film.
Comments