Ridremont succeeds in crunching bones and raising hell, all with a seasonal waft of cloves and corpses from behind a wishgiver’s crooked smile. It’s chilling, teeters between moral stances and is a hellish-jolly greeting that should please horror fans in the mood for merriness gone malevolent.
The Advent Calendar(Le Calendrier)
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
France, Belgium · 2021
1h 44m
Director Patrick Ridremont
Starring Eugénie Derouand, Honorine Magnier, Clément Olivieri, Janis Abrikh
Genre Horror, Thriller
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
Eva, a former dancer now permanently confined to a wheelchair after a car accident, receives a mysterious Advent calendar from her friend. Each candy she takes from the calendar seemingly causes a miraculous event. However, as these events become dark and violent, Eva is compelled to finish the calendar in hopes of restoring her movement.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
The New York Times by Lena Wilson
It is bizarre and dizzying and oddly beautiful in its fervor, as fantastical props and effects distract from the nonsensical plot. But this script also clumsily insists that its protagonist, a woman named Eva (Eugénie Derouand) who uses a wheelchair, is murderously obsessed with overcoming her disability.
RogerEbert.com by Peter Sobczynski
Most viewers will find themselves wishing that writer/director Patrick Ridremont had come up with a few variations on this standard theme in order to liven up this competently executed but painfully familiar genre exercise.
The Advent Calendar is a creeper of a thriller. It stalks you, sidles up and immerses the viewer in its world and its mood. This Belgian film (in French and German with English subtitles) doesn’t deliver frights or shocks so much as it serves up shivers.
Users who liked this film also liked
A Field in England
Open Up And Let The Devil In.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2013
- Director Ben Wheatley
- Cast Julian Barratt, Peter Ferdinando, Richard Glover, Ryan Pope, Reece Shearsmith, Michael Smiley
- Genre Drama, History, Horror, Thriller
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Redbox, Fandor, The Roku Channel, Popcornflix, Pluto TV, Freevee, Kanopy, Plex
Fog in August
(Nebel im August)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Germany, Austria • 2016
- Director Kai Wessel
- Cast Ivo Pietzcker, Sebastian Koch, Fritzi Haberlandt, Thomas Schubert, Henriette Confurius, Branko Samarovski
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Call Up
This time it's for real
- ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2016
- Director Charles Barker
- Cast Max Deacon, Morfydd Clark, Ali Cook, Chris Obi, Tom Benedict Knight, Dino Fazzani
- Genre Adventure, Action, Science Fiction
- Available on Apple TV, Vudu, Amazon Video, Tubi TV, Pluto TV, VUDU Free
Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System - Case.1 Crime and Punishment
(PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス Sinners of the System Case.1「罪と罰」)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 2019
- Director Naoyoshi Shiotani
- Cast Kenji Nojima, Tomokazu Seki, Kana Hanazawa, Ayane Sakura, Kinryuu Arimoto, Hiroki Touchi
- Genre Animation, Science Fiction, Crime
- Available on Crunchyroll Amazon Channel
Spiritwalker
(유체이탈자)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea • 2021
- Director Yoon Jae-geun
- Cast Yoon Kye-sang, Park Yong-woo, Lim Ji-yeon, Yoo Seung-mok, Park Ji-hwan, Lee Sung-wook
- Genre Action, Mystery, Thriller, Fantasy
- Available on Hoopla, Peacock, Kocowa, Hi-YAH, Rakuten Viki, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, Pluto TV, Plex
Pipeline
(파이프라인)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea • 2021
- Director Yoo Ha
- Cast Seo In-guk, Lee Soo-hyuk, Um Mun-suk, Yoo Seung-mok, Tae Hang-ho, Bae Yoo-ram
- Genre Crime, Adventure
- Available on Hoopla, Kocowa, Midnight Pulp, Amazon Video, Tubi TV, AsianCrush, Freevee, Cineverse, KoreaOnDemand, Popflick
Three
(Три)
Based on a true story in 1979, an investigator confronts the most monstrous case ever
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Uzbekistan, Korea, Kazakhstan • 2020
- Director Ruslan Pak
- Cast Igor Savochkin, Samal Yeslyamova, Askar Ilyasov, Tolganay Talgat, Zhandos Aibassov, Nurzhan Sadybekov
- Genre Thriller, Crime, Mystery
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Tarumama
(Llanto Maldito)
- ✭ ✭
- Colombia • 2021
- Director Andres Beltran
- Cast Paula Castaño, Andres Londono, Alanna De La Rossa, Jerónimo Barón, Carolina Ribón
- Genre Horror, Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Magnetic Beats
(Les Magnétiques)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Germany • 2021
- Director Vincent Maël Cardona
- Cast Thimotée Robart, Marie Colomb, Joseph Olivennes, Fabrice Adde, Louise Anselme, Younès Boucif
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Bull
A gangster comes back after 10 years to take revenge on those who betrayed him.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2021
- Director Paul Andrew Williams
- Cast Neil Maskell, David Hayman, Tamzin Outhwaite, Elizabeth Counsell, Kellie Shirley, Jay Simpson
- Genre Thriller
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Hoopla, Peacock, Showtime Apple TV Channel, Paramount Plus Apple TV Channel , Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
The Red Book Ritual
Every page is a new way to die.
- ✭ ✭
- New Zealand, Argentina • 2022
- Director Nicholas Peterson, Nicolás Onetti, Tony Morales, Daniel Rübesam, Guillermo Lockhart, Victor Català, Brian Deane, Christopher West, Oliver Garland
- Cast Valeria San Martin, Agustin Olcese, Marlene Pedersen Chauviere, Bruno Giacobbe, Agustin Bogliano, Marcos Bogliano
- Genre Horror
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Tubi TV, VUDU Free, Freevee, DistroTV, Plex
Deinfluencer
Trend or die trying
- ✭ ✭
- Canada • 2022
- Director Jamie Bailey
- Cast Marie Luciani-Grimaldi, Simon Phillips, Caylin Turner, Anne-Carolyne Binette
- Genre Horror, Thriller
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Apple TV, Tubi TV, VUDU Free, Freevee, DistroTV, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Plex