A paraplegic woman receives an Advent calendar from her best friend, but by Christmas, its gifts turn her life into a nightmare.
Daring in its simplicity and devastating in its implications. Rooted in dark wishful thinking, the film arrives in the run-up to Christmas and poses a deceptively innocent question: Will you take the first step? Because once you do, there is no stopping. The only way forward is to see it through… to the very last door!
What follows is a journey that is deliberately confusing, disorienting, messy, bloody, and defined by sacrifice. Each “gift” is both a blessing and a curse, offering fleeting bliss at a terrible cost. Writer/director Patrick Ridremont and Shudder understand the cruel mechanics of temptation: it takes everything from you to give you back the one thing you desire most.
As the mystery deepens, the questions multiply. What is this calendar? Who made it? When? What purpose does it serve, and for whom? Is it simply a supernatural object, or a modern variation on the oldest bargain of all, selling your soul to the devil? The film wisely resists easy answers, allowing dread to fester in the unknown. But then, there is a fine balance between what you answer and what you don’t.
Ridremont may not have reinvented the rules of horror, but his treatment of familiar conventions is precise and effective. Fast-paced montage sequences convey paranoia and encroaching madness, while slower, carefully measured moments create space for the supernatural to breathe. The film’s rhythm mirrors the calendar itself, each sequence leading inexorably to the next, forcing the audience to participate in the descent.
At the centre of it all is Eugénie Derouand (Eva), whose performance anchors the film emotionally. She captures fear and shock with unsettling realism, but it is her transition into dark hope and guilty pleasure that truly sells the horror. We understand not just what she fears, but why she continues.
The Advent Calendar is about temptation, consequence, and the price of desire. Once you open the first door, there is no going back. Not the most Christmas-y film of all time, but definitely one that horror fans will appreciate – especially this time of the year.
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