31 Films for Halloween, #8, The Advent Calendar (2021)

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 "The Advent Calendar" (2021) is holiday horror, the subgenre that pivots the end of year holiday season from a time of comfort and joy to one of discomfort and despair.

The film is French, and its original title is simply "Le Calendrier".  Advent calendars are apparently a bigger deal in European cultures than in mine, and I actually had to look up how they work to get the film.  I don't REALLY understand their purpose, but it's like a countdown to Christmas, using a chocolate-treat-a-day.

Not all traditions can be as sensible as ours.

The protagonist is a former dancer, now paraplegic, who acquires a big-ass sinister mechanical advent calendar that Grants Wishes and Has Rules and Exacts A Price (because sinister devices that grant wishes ALWAYS have RULES and exact a PRICE).

Let's get one for the kids!

You wouldn't think that's a schtick a movie could maintain FOR THIRTYISH DAYS.

But, oh, it does. Plus it has at least three guys who are serious eye-candy.

And that's better than any chocolate.

It is dark and bitter, like European chocolate. It is not a happy film. I mean... it's French, after all.

It is, however, a very welcome change from the simplicity of Killer Santa Clauses.

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