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Holiday movies have a reputation for being all fun and frolic where the entire family gets together to have a good time on Christmas. But Elves is far from that. A Christmas vacation turns into a horror show for a family of four when the youngest daughter discovers a strange creature in the woods. What follows wreaks havoc on the island as an ancient menace that haunts the place breaks out.
Young children hiding and nurturing strange creatures, away from the purview of adults, is an on-screen tradition that goes back decades. Elves brings in a festive twist to the trope.
This Danish series, divided into six episodes, is now streaming on Netflix.
A synopsis of 'Elves': SSp
When a family decided to rent a house on a remote island for a Christmas getaway, little did they know of the horrors in store for them when their car hit a bump on the road in the middle of nowhere. A strange town with hostile neighbors, a mysterious forest hidden behind a giant fence, strange sightings, and a curious teenage girl is the recipe for trouble in this series.
Josefine, the youngest daughter, is convinced that their car had hit a creature when she finds a blue sticky substance on the bumper. She goes out alone in search of it and stumbles upon a strange woodland elfling, injured and lonely. She brings it back and hides it in the barn which triggers a series of unfortunate events.
The islanders, on becoming aware of the incident, try to restore balance and appease the elves who have been enraged by the act. This effort leads to the worsening of the situation when Josefine finds her way to the other side of the fence to get back her new friend who was taken away from her.
In an attempt to rescue her, the family put the entire island in danger when woodland elves managed to break free and wreak havoc all around. To restore peace, the matriarch decides to make a sacrifice, Josefine. But her plan does not go well as Josefine ends up being rescued while she herself becomes the victim of the woodland elves.
As always, the situation is redeemed in the end when the entire family safely goes back to the mainland. The woodland elves are fenced off again and the island is saved, or is it?
Is 'Elves' worth the watch?
The Dutch Christmas horror series did not deliver as well as was anticipated according to critics. Though the concept of exploring the darker side of magical creatures straight from the fairytales is very original for a Christmas series, the execution was a let down. The 25 minute episodes were not enough to achieve what the writers intended it to.
The worldbuilding was lacking, the characters were not rounded off well enough and the loopholes in the plotline are starkly evident. The series seemed to be in a race to the end, not bothering to smoothen the rough edges of the narrative. Even the history of the ancient creatures haunting the island is not well explored.
The only thing viewers get to know is that the elves have been the residents of the place since times immemorial and it was the duty of the islanders to protect their secret.
At the end of the series, the audience is left with a lot of unanswered questions that were not meant to be left unanswered. How did the baby elf escape in the first place from behind barbed electrocuted wires? How did the islanders manage to put back all the creatures after the outbreak? How can the not-so-young protagonist make such irrational choices? It does seem a bit ridiculous after a point.
In the end, Elves feels like squandered potential.
Elves does bring a fun and refreshing twist by adding the element of horror to a Christmas holiday film. If the failures in execution can be ignored, Elves seems like a pretty good watch with its innovative storyline and characterization of potentially harmless and friendly magical creatures as menacing and dangerous beings. Catch Elves streaming on Netflix from today.
Note: This article is subjective and reflects the writer's opinion.
