There's Something in the Barn

This new Christmas horror film from the Norwegians would like to become the sibling of Wirkola's Dead Snow, but it is miles away; unfortunately there is nothing interesting to see here. A family moves to a mountain cottage in Norway before Christmas. There is a goblin elf hiding in the barn, he likes his peace and strict rules must be followed to not piss him off, which of course fails. During the first 50 minutes almost nothing interesting happens, the family is unlikeable, except for the sexy step mom, she was nice, but the father was a terrible loser and the kids were uninteresting. Once the elf gets pissed off and an army of elves appears, there is some action, but it's boring. We don't get any decent gore, it's a light/soft horror film for children. The humor doesn't work, overall it's quite bland and uninteresting, where no element stands out in anything. Visually, it's not completely bad, but if I went to see it in the cinema, I'd leave even more pissed off. It may serve well as a background while baking cookies or unwrapping gifts at Christmas, otherwise it's a waste of time. 4/10. (12/12/2023)

There’s Something in the Barn is much more a comedy than a horror movie. As a comedy, it’s a solid film featuring a privileged and ignorant American family that moves to snow-covered Norway before Christmas with the naïve idea that they will take selfies there and watch the aurora borealis every evening. They are kept company by the peculiar local characters, while the film satirically makes fun of the stereotypes of both nations. Nevertheless, it is disappointing as a horror movie in that it starts out by whetting the viewer’s appetite for a bloodily coarse spectacle along the lines of Krampus or Violent Night  (and yes, it achieves that a few times), but in comparison with those films, it is generally lame and even almost like a family movie. For any proper action, we have to wait until the final third, which is solidly packed with such action, but logic and the previously established rules rather go by the wayside. This will probably not become a Christmas classic because the loud and silly protagonists, depicted in a derisively unsympathetic light, rather make us want to root for their peace- and order-loving antagonists. (10/08/2023)

A family Christmas comedy with elements of horror. You know how it is – ominous music plays to give us a sense that shit’s about to get real, but the scene is laced with jokes and it’s clear that nothing is going to happen to anyone. And the humor is more along the lines of a pissed-off Chris Columbus than Tommy Wirkola, who could have made a proper dark comedy out of this. Magnus Martens merely deals in familiar clichés for mainstream viewers, who will most likely be satisfied – the film is flawlessly crafted, the plot moves along at a brisk pace and there’s plenty of action. And what even I found pleasing were the apt jokes about the difference between American (shooting) and Norwegian (drinking) culture. (10/08/2023)