White Reindeer eagerly pokes the mythology surrounding the holiday season narrative to find something hauntingly beautiful lurking beneath it.

If White Reindeer's satirical elements feel off the rack, that's because what they're satirizing in our real lives is, too.

What's dark and weird about Zach Clark's film is also what's tangible, authentic, and wise about it.

The film executes its bad-taste gags with such delicacy and unexpected emotional truth that they don’t even seem like jokes. This is attributable largely to Hollyman’s fearless, convincing lead performance, which grounds the movie in a believable reality, no matter how crazy things become.

Mr. Clark finds unexpected heart amid cliché and frigidity.