The Advent Calendar

The Advent Calendar is a Christmas horror perfect for the holiday season. The film follows Eva (Eugénie Derouand), a paraplegic woman navigating life on her own with her dog, trying to have A normal life after a car accident left her unable to use her legs. We see her being mistreated by her horrible sleezy boss, who is trying to replace her with a woman he wants to sleep with. We see her having trouble with dating as a disabled person and how she has trouble conducting everyday tasks. On the third of December, Eva is visited by her old dancing school friend with an early Christmas present, a custom-made advent calendar. Together, they open the first few days of Advent and find cryptic messages and a warning to eat every candy within the calendar and to follow the instructions, or else they will be killed by a monster attached to the calendar. Over the month, Eva finds that each advent grants her deepest desires, like a man who assaulted her gets in a wreck, her ex-boss is found dead ETC and later even gives her back the ability to walk. She quickly discovers that the calendar not only grants miracles but demands sacrifice as well, at the expense of her enemies as well as her friends and family, creating a monkey’s paw situation.

I love the conceit and most of the film's execution. I really loved the calendar's design; it looks like a creepy, real-world haunted object, unlike how The Conjuring films turned what was supposed to be a Raggedy Ann doll into a doll no one in their right mind would ever purchase.  I love how each of the Advent candies is different, and each has different meanings that aren't spoon-fed to the audience, which we find out along with Eva what they do throughout the month. The only part of The Advent Calendar I think was superfluous was the murderous monster that does the killing. The monster's design is just a rudimentary pale, lanky, masked killer that doesn’t appear to have any yule tide folk origins, which are rife across different European cultures, like Krampus, etc. I think the movie would have worked a little better if the mishaps stemming from the calendar’s advents were more supernatural, without the introduction of a monster. It would have created a tighter film, and in my opinion, would be a little scarier if our protagonist didn’t interact with the personification of the inanimate.

Due to the introduction of the monster, this film overstays its welcome just a little bit. While the first two-thirds of the film are tense and scary, the third act is a little too long. The focus on Eva’s anguish about having to kill her loved ones is overdrawn simply because the monster begins to interact with her more during these key scenes unnecessarily. I sincerely think this movie would have been more effective without the creature. Despite the lengthy ending, I did enjoy the twist toward the end as well as the ambiguity of the ending. I would absolutely recommend watching this movie, especially if you are a fan of yuletide Horror films like Krampus, Black Christmas, or Silent Night Deadly Night.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray 
Thanks to Shudder and their partnership with OCN Distribution, The Advent Calendar earns some physical media elf on the shelf space of its own. This set includes a single Region A Blu-ray disc, housed in a clear case with the film’s original artwork, and a booklet containing an essay by film critic Amber T. If you ordered from Vinegar Syndrome directly, you could pick up an exclusive slipcover. 

The video in this release looks average for a lower-budget, recent horror film. The film is shown in 1080p and looks serviceable for this style of horror film. Having been released in 2021, this film does escape the usual straight-to-streaming films to come out recently, as it doesn’t have that horrible blue hue throughout, and there are no unwatchable night scenes where virtually nothing is visible. It was a pleasant surprise that this film was so good to look at while still maintaining some low-budget film trappings. Also, this film finds a good balance of low-budget lighting where the film looks either like a bright toothpaste commercial or a muggy dark nightmare, so The Advent Calendar rides a nice balance where lighting is concerned.

This release, which is a French/Belgian production, is presented in French, German DTS-HD MA 5.1. The dialogue is clear throughout the film. There are some scenes where a lesser film would maybe have bad mixing, like when car crashes or during the monster attack, where the volume would be poorly mixed; that being said, The Advent Calendar has very balanced sound, where you can hear the quiet whispering scenes as well as not blowing out your speakers with the loud action sequences.

The supplements are ok, they leave a little to be desired but what they do have are a couple of decent supplements, they include an intro by the film’s director and this one is just him using his laptop camera to intro the film but for some reason is insanely close up so while it’s interesting to hear his inspirations its very distracting to see his distorted face while sitting in his home office. The commentary and the booklet by Mary Beth McAndrews and Amber T, respectively, both have interesting things to say about the film and are nice to have for a film that made its debut on Shudder.

• Audio Commentary by film critic Mary Beth McAndrews
• New Video Introduction by director Patrick Ridremont (8:50)
• Booklet with new writing by film critic Amber T
• Trailer (1:35)

The Advent Calendar is a fun Christmas horror film with a great premise and a phenomenal performance by the lead, Eugénie Derouand. The film has a great practical prop at its center, a grounded horror object that remains creepy throughout. The only downside is the inclusion of a monster that does the bidding of the calendar. I wish the film had been tighter and, honestly, scarier if the calendar stood on its own as a supernatural haunted object, without showing the murders actually take place on its behalf. The movie is well worth checking out. This is the physical release by Vinegar Syndrome and the streaming service Shudder, where the film was originally released and was the only place to watch it. It’s always great to have a streaming film receive a physical release. Even if the supplements released with the film are somewhat lackluster, you still wouldn’t have them on the streaming apps. Ultimately, this is a solid release of a non-English-language Christmas-themed horror film that I would definitely recommend checking out, especially for those into a little yuletide scare. Worth A Look