Elves (or Nisser) is a Danish series being billed as “Christmas horror.” We’ve seen what Danish horror series were like back in October. Is a Christmas horror series better? let’s find out.
Josefine (Sonja Steen), or Jose, is a teenager about to spend Christmas on a remote island with her family. On the way to their vacation house, Jose’s father, Mads (Peder Thomas Pedersen), hits something with the car. Unable to find an injured animal or anything wrong with the car and instructed by some locals to stay far away from the nearby fence, the family heads on to the house. However, Jose can’t shake the feeling that they hit something. She heads back to the fence to find the animal. What she finds is something the family has never seen before.
This is as much of a “Christmas” story as Die Hard. They both take place during Christmas but neither are really about Christmas. The family chops down a Christmas tree, angering the head of the locals - Karen (Ann Eleonora Jørgensen); they make some homemade Christmas decorations; they talk about Christmas presents. That is the totality of the Christmas spirit here. The elves in the title aren’t even Christmas elves. They are forest elves.
With that said, it’s not a terrible story. It is only six 30ish-minute episodes. My husband and I binged the whole series in one night and I found it difficult to not binge the series. I wanted to find out what would happen next. It is a very interesting take on the elf mythology. Instead of being adorable woodland creatures, they are terrifying carnivores wanting sacrifices to keep from killing the local people.
My main problem with the series is Jose, herself. She is seriously dumb, even for a teenager. Every time she is told not to do something, she does it. Not once does she listen to a single adult, even when she is trying to escape the danger. The girl is almost killed and she still tries to keep a baby elf as a pet. We get to see why Jose doesn’t listen to adults and why she thinks she can do whatever she wants: She is literally the entire reason everyone on the island is in danger. When Karen straight up tells her this, Jose’s mother, Charlotte (Lila Nobel), tells her that it’s not her fault. NO, CHARLOTTE. THIS IS HER FAULT. ENTIRELY HER FAULT. If she had listened, just once, no one would be in this situation. It would have been nice if the writers could have driven the plot along without making Jose as willful as she is. Or even if she had realized what she had done and tried to resolve it. But she doesn’t.
Elves is set up to have a second season. I’m not sure if one is on the way but the set up is there. So should you watch it? If you are into slow-burn horror movies, you might like this. Just be warned that you might be rooting for Josefine to die.