Review by Justin Bateman
Stars Otto Jespersen, Glenn Erland Tosterud, Johanna Mørck, Tomas Alf Larsen, Hans Morten Hansen, Eirik Bech, Robert Stoltenberg, Knut Nærum, Torunn Lødemel Stokkeland
Written by André Øvredal and Håvard S Johansen
Certification UK tbc | US PG-13
Runtime 103 minutes
Directed by André Øvredal
The "found footage" movie genre has been around for quite some time. Seminal "video nasty" Cannibal Holocaust (1980) was one of the first examples and in 1999 The Blair Witch Project gained a cult following even before release thanks to some clever online marketing. Despite its success, nothing really caught the public’s imagination in this area until [REC] in 2007 and then Paranormal Activity (2010). Following in the footsteps of these commercial successes comes Troll Hunter, a Norwegian film in the finest traditions of low-budget horror.
Using a camera, a microphone and the sort of naive perseverance you need to find a big story, students Thomas, Johanna and Kalle are investigating a series of unexplained bear deaths. After a few days of chasing, they finally catch up with the mysterious Hans. He’s not known by the rest of the bear hunting community which is perhaps no surprise when they meet him in the middle of a forest, in the middle of the night, and he’s running towards them shouting “Troll!” As with all the best monster movies, it’s a while before we see anything of the troll which naturally makes its first appearance all the more impactful.
To reveal any more of the plot is not so much churlish as pointless. Hans hunts trolls, the students film it, and that’s pretty much it. But while the storyline itself is not exactly groundbreaking, it’s strangely compelling. The trademark handheld camerawork, naturalistic performances and lack of any music gives it a solid documentary feel and with such a frankly bizarre central conceit, it’s hard not to want to see how it all pans out, despite the occasionally slow pace.
Trolls have been a part of Scandinavian folklore for centuries and anyone with even a passing knowledge of these tales will appreciate some of the references incorporated into the plot. There’s even room for some social comment which beings amusingly but soon turns considerably darker. Perhaps because even the protagonists can see what a ridiculous situation they’re involved in, there are quite a few laughs in the film and not even the blackly comic ones you might expect from a horror. In fact, it’s hardly a horror at all. Sure, there’s peril and the trolls are undoubtedly dangerous but the way they look never elicits horror, despite their size.
So this is an odd one – a funny, not very scary horror film that is intriguing rather than gripping but nevertheless hangs together rather well. Troll Hunter is by no means perfect but in a world of reboots and remakes, sequels and prequels, it’s heartening to see an independent film leading the way in terms of effective low-budget special effects and imagination.