FAMILY-FRIENDLY HORROR WITH 'ELVES' (NISSER)
These are not the elves you are looking for. When you see the premise of the Danish series called Elves, occurring on a family’s Christmas holiday, you could be forgiven for thinking this could involve Santa and his eponymous helpers. Possibly in some sort of dark or culturally related twist. However what actually unfolds is based in much older myths and little to do with seasonal traditions.
On a trip to a house on an isolated island, Josefine (Sonja Steen) and her family have a car accident with a mysterious creature near an ominous electrified fence. Against the express demands of her family and the locals, she is determined to find the creature, feeling responsible for injuring it. What begins similarly more heart-warming tales of a child protecting and caring for a enigmatic creature (like E.T.), it quickly goes from family friendly to tense horror when the creature’s family come looking and endanger all life on the island.
Rubbish for scale
Considering the scale and budget of the production the script and acting is reasonable. As this is horror aimed at young teens, the scale and scope of the tale is quite limited, though it still makes sense with the isolation of the setting. Nothing in the story feels particularly forced or contrived, except for a couple of moments at the end (though they are set-ups for future seasons, interest provided).
Those who may have turned up for a character drama will most likely be disappointed by the rather rushed and clichéd dynamics and actions from everyone involved. They cover all bases with a doting, but demanding mother, the passive and diplomatic father and the intentionally irritating, girl-obsessed older brother. On top of this the locals are your stock-standard, stranger-fearing villagers who take every opportunity to harangue the family and tell them to go home.
That said, the series is really advertised as a creature-feature, so the audience shouldn’t be focusing on the fairly average setup, and be more concerned about the creatures themselves. In that the elves themselves thankfully don’t disappoint. The baby elf that Josefine rescues is genuinely cute, but thankfully not overdone. The adult elves are generally kept mostly obscured, but when seen they are genuinely scary. I only feel it is disappointing you don’t get more frequent and longer looks at the monsters, which feels like the production was trying to hide parts of the puppetry, costumes, or CG that just wasn’t working properly. Despite (and sometimes because) of this evasiveness, the elves do elicit many genuinely tense and creepy moments, and did have me guessing to the very end who really would live or die.
You can see it if you know what to look for.
Overall it was a rather fun and interesting tale, and I look forward to what they might do with the setup should they continue the tale.
RATING: 6/10
WHERE TO WATCH: NETFLIX
