The tradition of small children harbouring potentially dangerous creatures has been on screen for decades.
We've seen it before in E.T., but have we ever seen it with a festive twist, where the creature in question is a tiny baby elf?
I thought about this when I was thinking about the Elves, a short series about a family heading to a remote island to spend the holidays among nature, only to get a lot more than they bargained for when they hit something mysterious with their car.
On paper, this one sounded like a lot of fun. The best Christmas horror is silly, but fun. At times it was. I was left feeling like I'd watched something that was awkward between the two shows, and which wasn't as entertaining as I'd hoped it would be.
The credit is given to:
There's nothing wrong with the setup. I wouldn't be able to get enough of a family cut-off on a weird island, a forest hidden behind a giant fence, and strange locals. The cast is strong, with the younger actors, and The Killing's Ann Eleonora Jrgensen giving an intimidating turn as one of the island's in-the-know. There are some genuinely entertaining scenes, such as the first glimpse of what the island is hiding behind its fence, and there's nothing wrong with the dialogue or the way the show's shot.
Where does it go wrong?
It's hard to care about the characters. There isn't enough depth to them. The show's sense of peril is reduced by the lack of tension between them, and the strange situation they find themselves in. There are some minor arcs to the story of the baby of the family and her relationship with her mother and brother.
The credit is given to Ohsten, who works for the streaming service.
The show feels underdeveloped in other areas. The idea of strange creatures being kept behind a fence is fun, but it's not really an idea. We don't know much about the creatures themselves or how they ended up there, which feels like a missed opportunity.
Elves feels a bit underdone. It's not a bad show, but it isn't a complete show either. It's too obvious where things are going and the journey there isn't exciting enough.
The Elves is on the streaming service.
