There’s Something in the Barn
A year past the death of his eccentric Uncle Erik, elderly and living alone in a grand house perched in the hills above a small Norwegian village, the time has come for Bill Nordheim, his children Nora and Lukas and their stepmother, self-improvement guru Carol, to relocate to what is described as “the happiest country in the world,” a fact which seems to have bypassed the locals who are neither welcoming nor particularly joyous in themselves.
Nora furious at leaving California and her friends for the chilly winter wonderland, they largely ignore Lukas and his imaginary friend, a Barn Elf of the local mythology whom he insists must be appeased by following simple rules to ensure harmony, no disruptive changes to his traditional way of life, no artificial lighting and no loud noises, all of which are likely to be involved with Bill’s plan to thaw the frosty community leaders by throwing a Christmas party for the village in the barn.
Directed by Magnus Martens from a script by Aleksander R Kirkwood Brown, There’s Something in the Barn plays like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation crossed with Gremlins, the three simple rules of the lore established by an early visit to the folk museum and just as swiftly violated by Bill (Spider-Man: No Way Home’s Martin Starr), well intentioned but hapless as a husband and parent and ultimately useless in the swiftly arriving crisis he precipitates.
The early scenes showing promise in the first encounter the wildlife and the exasperated sheriff (Henriette Steenstrup), the Nordheims posing for a family photo beside a sign warning of the presence of territorial moose in the trees, a comedy is reliant on pace and character yet There’s Something in the Barn makes little attempt with either, Nora and Lukas (Zoe Winther-Hansen and Townes Bunner) certainly more interesting than Carol (Død snø 2’s Amrita Acharia) but none of them more than generic oh-so-wronged teenagers and their self-important stepmom.
Crucially, the troublesome Barn Elf (The Lord of the Rings’ Kiran Shah) having been sighted early on, there is no mystery, only a trudge through snowbound stock situations before the inevitable chaos arrives where, as is often the case with Christmas, the anticipation is more than what is ultimately delivered, the violence never as inventive or outrageous as the equivalent in Secret Santa and a sledge chase suffering from particularly unconvincing compositing of the performers into the digital backgrounds.
Essentially the same story as Unwelcome under a heavy drift of snow, like any memorable celebration There’s Something in the Barn needs sparkle and bang to stand out in a crowded marketplace but is more of a damp squib, a good idea which despite the promise of the wide snowy plains and dense forests never quite manages to struggle out of its festive wrapping, Rare Exports remaining the measure by which Scandinavian seasonal comedy horror continues to be judged.
There’s Something in the Barn will be on general release from Friday 1st December
