The Advent Calendar

This review was first published after The Advent Calendar was presented at London FrightFest 2021.

Along with The Tell-Tale Heart, The Monkey’s Paw and its derivatives has to be one of the most filmed stories of all time. The Advent Calendar is another variant though with a Christmas angle and, an advent calendar.


Eva (Eugénie Derouand) is a paraplegic following an accident. Living on her own she maintains her independence. by working for an insurance firm (though she is resented by her boss as it cost him a lot of money to adapt the office, regardless of the fact he receives state support) and she swims though this too presents its own problems as people make assumptions. But she has a good friend Sophie (Honorine Magnier) who on coming back from her home in Germany gives her an ornate wooden advent calendar as birthday present.

This calendar has certain rules that must be adhered to, or she’ll die. It’s grisly stuff and as its already 3rd December Eva has a few of the sweets to catch up.

One that intrigues her is an After Eight. This was her father’s favourite but his advanced Alzheimer’s means he no longer remembers her let alone give her a call for her birthday as her step-mother acidly reminds her. But one night she receives a call from him through dead line.

What transpires is that each day reveals a box and a sweet that has an effect on her or people around her. Some are good others not so, it depends. So when her hours are cut her boss is killed similarly the lady who took her hours has her most precious parts destroyed cue massive hair loss and toenail extraction. It doesn’t take too long for Eva to work this out and that there are choices that have to be made, really hard choices.

There could have been a temptation to take this down the Saw route of elaborate killings. Instead some of the murders are certainly bizarre while others are actually off screen. This film takes a far more psychological approach with Eva becoming more obsessed with the calendar as the knowledge of what it can do for her, and the sacrifices become clear. It does become a little repetitive as the days are counted down to the 24th though that’s a minor issue.

It’s a classy production from writer and director Patrick Ridremont though not flashy just making best use of the winter period with its pristine colours, suiting the chill of the themes of the film.

Derouand is excellent as the central character; you can see her mind ticking over the choices as the film develops, her attitude and features changing as the end approaches.

Ridremont also has something to say about the difficulties of the disabled, as in the swimming pool, her boss’s resentment and the looks she gets when she tries to get into a crowded bar. Worst of all is that she’s presumed to be sexually available leading to an unpleasant scene with an individual who gets his comeuppance in one of the odder killings.

The Advent Calendar is available now on Shudder.